Data for: Measuring Time Preferences

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Jonathan Cohen; Keith Marzilli Ericson, Boston University, Questrom School of Business; David Laibson; John Myles White

Version: View help for Version V1

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
CohenEtAl-SupplementalMaterial.xlsx	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet	55.3 KB	04/09/2020 11:09:AM
README.pdf	application/pdf	110.6 KB	04/20/2020 06:46:AM

Project Citation:

Cohen, Jonathan , Ericson, Keith Marzilli, Laibson, David , and White, John Myles. Data for: Measuring Time Preferences. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2020. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2020-06-01. https://doi.org/10.3886/E118804V1

Project Description

Summary: We review research that measures time preferences—i.e., preferences over intertemporal trade-offs. We distinguish between studies using financial flows, which we call “money earlier or later” (MEL) decisions and studies that use time-dated consumption/effort. Under different structural models, we show how to translate what MEL experiments directly measure (required rates of return for financial flows) into a discount function over utils. We summarize empirical regularities found in MEL studies and the predictive power of those studies. We explain why MEL choices are driven in part by some factors that are distinct from underlying time preferences.

Scope of Project

JEL Classification:
      C91 Design of Experiments: Laboratory, Individual
      C93 Field Experiments
      D14 Household Saving; Personal Finance
      D15 Intertemporal Household Choice; Life Cycle Models and Saving
      D90 Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: General

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V1 [2020-06-01]

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