IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/aejmic/v4y2012i4p172-201.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Evolutionary Basis of Time Preference: Intergenerational Transfers and Sex

Author

Listed:
  • Arthur J. Robson
  • Balazs Szentes
  • Emil Iantchev

Abstract

We consider the evolutionary basis of time discounting with intergenerational transfers. We show that the notion of "reproductive value" from biology provides the utility criterion for a parent to optimize the allocation of resources between transfers to offspring and to promote her own survival. This optimization has a natural dynamic programming formulation. We show that younger individuals may well be "too impatient," but older individuals "too patient" in accordance with observations. We compare the allocation of resources under sexual reproduction to that where there is asexual reproduction. Sex distorts time discounting; under plausible conditions, sex increases patience. (JEL A12, D91)

Suggested Citation

  • Arthur J. Robson & Balazs Szentes & Emil Iantchev, 2012. "The Evolutionary Basis of Time Preference: Intergenerational Transfers and Sex," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(4), pages 172-201, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejmic:v:4:y:2012:i:4:p:172-201
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/mic.4.4.172
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/mic.4.4.172
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zexuan Wang & Ismaël Rafaï & Marc Willinger, 2023. "Does age affect the relation between risk and time preferences? Evidence from a representative sample," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 90(2), pages 341-368, October.
    2. Luis Rayo & Arthur Robson, 2013. "Biology and the Arguments of Utility," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1893, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    3. Terence C. Burnham, 2016. "Economics and evolutionary mismatch: humans in novel settings do not maximize," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 195-209, October.
    4. Wu, Jiabin & Zhang, Hanzhe, 2021. "Preference evolution in different matching markets," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    5. Mellissa Marcus & Terence C. Burnham & David W. Stephens & Aimee S. Dunlap, 2018. "Experimental evolution of color preference for oviposition in Drosophila melanogaster," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 125-140, April.
    6. Arthur J. Robson & Balázs Szentes, 2014. "A Biological Theory of Social Discounting," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(11), pages 3481-3497, November.
    7. Xiu Chen & Xiaojian Zhao, 2021. "How time flies!," Monash Economics Working Papers 2021-09, Monash University, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • A12 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aea:aejmic:v:4:y:2012:i:4:p:172-201. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.