Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/282121 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
Discussion Paper No. 429
Publisher: 
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München und Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Collaborative Research Center Transregio 190 - Rationality and Competition, München und Berlin
Abstract: 
Decisions to invest in human capital depend on people's time preferences. We show that differences in patience are closely related to substantial subnational differences in educational achievement, leading to new perspectives on longstanding within-country disparities. We use social-media data – Facebook interests – to construct novel regional measures of patience within Italy and the United States. Patience is strongly positively associated with student achievement in both countries, accounting for two-thirds of the achievement variation across Italian regions and one-third across U.S. states. Results also hold for six other countries with more limited regional achievement data.
Subjects: 
patience
student achievement
regions
social media
JEL: 
I21
Z10
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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