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Doing It When Others Do: A Strategic Model Of Procrastination

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  • Claudia Cerrone

Abstract

This paper develops a strategic model of procrastination in which present‐biased agents prefer to perform an onerous task with someone else. This turns their decision of when to perform the task into a procrastination game—a dynamic coordination game between present‐biased players. The model characterizes the conditions under which interaction mitigates or exacerbates procrastination. A procrastinator matched with a worse procrastinator may perform her task earlier than she otherwise would: she wants to avoid the increased temptation that her peer's company would generate. Procrastinators can thus use bad company as a commitment device to mitigate their self‐control problem. (JEL C72, C73, D03, D91)

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  • Claudia Cerrone, 2021. "Doing It When Others Do: A Strategic Model Of Procrastination," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(1), pages 315-328, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecinqu:v:59:y:2021:i:1:p:315-328
    DOI: 10.1111/ecin.12928
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    Cited by:

    1. Yixuan Shi, 2022. "Dynamic Volunteer’s Dilemma with Procrastinators," Working Papers tax-mpg-rps-2022-17, Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance.
    2. Joshua S. Gans & Peter Landry, 2019. "Self-recognition in teams," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 48(4), pages 1169-1201, December.
    3. Claudia Cerrone & Leonhard K. Lades, 2017. "Sophisticated and naïve procrastination: an experimental study," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2017_08, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    4. Andrej Woerner, 2021. "Overcoming Time Inconsistency with a Matched Bet: Theory and Evidence from Exercising," CESifo Working Paper Series 9503, CESifo.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • C73 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Stochastic and Dynamic Games; Evolutionary Games
    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making

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