Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/58431 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 6385
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We compare different designs that have been used to test for an impact of time horizon on discounting, using real incentives and two representative data sets. With the most commonly used type of design we replicate the typical finding of declining (hyperbolic) discounting, but with other designs find constant or increasing discounting. As a whole, the data are not consistent with any of these usual candidate discounting assumptions, and they also imply a violation of transitivity. The results have implications for interpreting previous evidence, and pose an important puzzle for understanding inter-temporal choice.
Subjects: 
time preference
hyperbolic discounting
self-control
dynamic inconsistency
intransitivity
JEL: 
D01
D90
D03
E21
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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