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Strotz Meets Allais: Diminishing Impatience and the Certainty Effect

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Yoram Halevy

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Abstract

Decision makers tend to exhibit a higher degree of impatience when considering a delay to an immediate reward than when contemplating an identical delay to an equal future reward. This work argues that diminishing impatience originates from the distinction between the certain present and the risky future. A simple functional representation of preferences, exhibiting time inconsistency when the future is uncertain, is derived. Experimental evidence, which is inconsistent with other formulations that account for diminishing impatience, supports the proposed approach. The new theory uncovers a tight relation between diminishing impatience and well-known behavioral regularities in choice under risk and uncertainty.

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File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1257/aer.98.3.1145
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File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/article_detail.php?journal=AER&volume=98&issue=3&article=25&issue_date=June2008
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Article provided by American Economic Association in its journal American Economic Review.

Volume (Year): 98 (2008)
Issue (Month): 3 (June)
Pages: 1145-62
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Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:98:y:2008:i:3:p:1145-62

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References listed on IDEAS
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Marco Casari, 2009. "Pre-commitment and flexibility in a time decision experiment," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 38(2), pages 117-141, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Norio Takeoka, 2006. "Temptation, Certainty Effect, and Diminishing Self-Control," Levine's Bibliography 321307000000000507, UCLA Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  3. Jawwad Noor, 2005. "Choice and Normative Preference," Boston University - Department of Economics - Working Papers Series WP2005-039, Boston University - Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  4. Stefania Albanesi & Claudia Olivetti, 2007. "Gender Roles and Technological Progress," Boston University - Department of Economics - Working Papers Series WP2007-029, Boston University - Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Jawwad Noor, 2007. "Hyperbolic Discounting and the Standard," Levine's Bibliography 321307000000000939, UCLA Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  6. Ali al-Nowaihi & Sanjit Dhami, 2008. "A general theory of time discounting: The reference-time theory of intertemporal choice," Discussion Papers in Economics 08/22, Department of Economics, University of Leicester. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Hanming Fang & Dan Silverman, 2007. "Time-Inconsistency and Welfare Program Participation: Evidence from the NLSY," NBER Working Papers 13375, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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