Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/57569 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
Papers on Economics and Evolution No. 1203
Publisher: 
Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena
Abstract: 
The paper deals with impulsive consumption and highlights the roles that cognitive and motivational aspects of reflexive thought (namely self-control and self-image motives, respectively) play in intertemporal decisions. While self-control inhibits individuals from consuming impulsively, self-image motives can induce impulsive consumption. Based on recent neuroscientific findings about 'wanting'-'liking' dissociations, the paper presents a potential motivational mechanism underlying such impulsive consumption decisions. Utilizing the knowledge of this mechanism and acknowledging both cognitive and motivational aspects of reflexive thought, the paper expands on three libertarian paternalistic means to foster an ethical way of impulsive consumption: strengthening willpower, reducing impulsive desires to consume, and guiding impulsive behavior in ethical directions by making salient certain self-images that favor ethical consumption.
Subjects: 
Impulsive Consumption
'Wanting' versus 'Liking'
Ethical Consumption
Libertarian Paternalism
JEL: 
B
B52
D03
D91
K2
Q3
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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