IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/1707.04981.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Optimal Equilibrium for Time-Inconsistent Stopping Problems -- the Discrete-Time Case

Author

Listed:
  • Yu-Jui Huang
  • Zhou Zhou

Abstract

We study an infinite-horizon discrete-time optimal stopping problem under non-exponential discounting. A new method, which we call the iterative approach, is developed to find subgame perfect Nash equilibria. When the discount function induces decreasing impatience, we establish the existence of an equilibrium through fixed-point iterations. Moreover, we show that there exists a unique optimal equilibrium, which generates larger value than any other equilibrium does at all times. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time a dominating subgame perfect Nash equilibrium is shown to exist in the literature of time-inconsistency.

Suggested Citation

  • Yu-Jui Huang & Zhou Zhou, 2017. "The Optimal Equilibrium for Time-Inconsistent Stopping Problems -- the Discrete-Time Case," Papers 1707.04981, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2018.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:1707.04981
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/1707.04981
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stahl, Dale II & Wilson, Paul W., 1994. "Experimental evidence on players' models of other players," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 309-327, December.
    2. Geir B. Asheim, 1997. "Individual and Collective Time-Consistency," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 64(3), pages 427-443.
    3. Ying Hu & Hanqing Jin & Xun Yu Zhou, 2012. "Time-Inconsistent Stochastic Linear--Quadratic Control," Post-Print hal-00691816, HAL.
    4. Grenadier, Steven R. & Wang, Neng, 2007. "Investment under uncertainty and time-inconsistent preferences," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 2-39, April.
    5. R. H. Strotz, 1955. "Myopia and Inconsistency in Dynamic Utility Maximization," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 23(3), pages 165-180.
    6. Bezalel Peleg & Menahem E. Yaari, 1973. "On the Existence of a Consistent Course of Action when Tastes are Changing," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 40(3), pages 391-401.
    7. Yu-Jui Huang & Adrien Nguyen-Huu, 2018. "Time-consistent stopping under decreasing impatience," Finance and Stochastics, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 69-95, January.
    8. repec:dau:papers:123456789/11473 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Stahl Dale O., 1993. "Evolution of Smartn Players," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 604-617, October.
    10. George Loewenstein & Drazen Prelec, 1992. "Anomalies in Intertemporal Choice: Evidence and an Interpretation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(2), pages 573-597.
    11. Thaler, Richard, 1981. "Some empirical evidence on dynamic inconsistency," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 201-207.
    12. Drazen Prelec, 2004. "Decreasing Impatience: A Criterion for Non‐stationary Time Preference and “Hyperbolic” Discounting," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 106(3), pages 511-532, October.
    13. Tomas Björk & Mariana Khapko & Agatha Murgoci, 2017. "On time-inconsistent stochastic control in continuous time," Finance and Stochastics, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 331-360, April.
    14. Loewenstein, George & Thaler, Richard H, 1989. "Intertemporal Choice," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 3(4), pages 181-193, Fall.
    15. E. S. Phelps & R. A. Pollak, 1968. "On Second-Best National Saving and Game-Equilibrium Growth," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 35(2), pages 185-199.
    16. Noor, Jawwad, 2009. "Decreasing impatience and the magnitude effect jointly contradict exponential discounting," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 144(2), pages 869-875, March.
    17. Kocherlakota, Narayana R., 1996. "Reconsideration-Proofness: A Refinement for Infinite Horizon Time Inconsistency," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 33-54, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Yu-Jui Huang & Zhou Zhou, 2017. "Optimal Equilibria for Time-Inconsistent Stopping Problems in Continuous Time," Papers 1712.07806, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2018.
    2. Gad, Kamille Sofie Tågholt & Matomäki, Pekka, 2020. "Optimal variance stopping with linear diffusions," Stochastic Processes and their Applications, Elsevier, vol. 130(4), pages 2349-2383.
    3. Christensen, Sören & Lindensjö, Kristoffer, 2020. "On time-inconsistent stopping problems and mixed strategy stopping times," Stochastic Processes and their Applications, Elsevier, vol. 130(5), pages 2886-2917.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yu-Jui Huang & Zhou Zhou, 2017. "Optimal Equilibria for Time-Inconsistent Stopping Problems in Continuous Time," Papers 1712.07806, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2018.
    2. Yu-Jui Huang & Adrien Nguyen-Huu, 2018. "Time-consistent stopping under decreasing impatience," Finance and Stochastics, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 69-95, January.
    3. Yu‐Jui Huang & Zhou Zhou, 2020. "Optimal equilibria for time‐inconsistent stopping problems in continuous time," Mathematical Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 1103-1134, July.
    4. Xue Dong He & Xun Yu Zhou, 2021. "Who Are I: Time Inconsistency and Intrapersonal Conflict and Reconciliation," Papers 2105.01829, arXiv.org.
    5. Yu-Jui Huang & Zhenhua Wang, 2020. "Optimal Equilibria for Multi-dimensional Time-inconsistent Stopping Problems," Papers 2006.00754, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2021.
    6. Efe A Ok & Yusufcan Masatlioglu, 2003. "A General Theory of Time Preferences," Levine's Bibliography 234936000000000089, UCLA Department of Economics.
    7. Erhan Bayraktar & Jingjie Zhang & Zhou Zhou, 2021. "Equilibrium concepts for time‐inconsistent stopping problems in continuous time," Mathematical Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 508-530, January.
    8. Zhou, Zhou & Jin, Zhuo, 2020. "Optimal equilibrium barrier strategies for time-inconsistent dividend problems in discrete time," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 100-108.
    9. Zhao, Qian & Shen, Yang & Wei, Jiaqin, 2014. "Consumption–investment strategies with non-exponential discounting and logarithmic utility," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 238(3), pages 824-835.
    10. Méder, Zsombor Z. & Flesch, János & Peeters, Ronald, 2017. "Naiveté and sophistication in dynamic inconsistency," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 40-54.
    11. Doruk Cetemen & Felix Zhiyu Feng & Can Urgun, 2019. "Contracting with Non-Exponential Discounting: Moral Hazard and Dynamic Inconsistency," Working Papers 2019-17, Princeton University. Economics Department..
    12. Murat Yilmaz, 2018. "An Extended Survey of Time-Inconsistency and Its Applications," Bogazici Journal, Review of Social, Economic and Administrative Studies, Bogazici University, Department of Economics, vol. 32(1), pages 55-73.
    13. O'Donoghue, Ted & Rabin, Matthew, 2008. "Procrastination on long-term projects," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 161-175, May.
    14. Marcel Nutz & Yuchong Zhang, 2019. "Conditional Optimal Stopping: A Time-Inconsistent Optimization," Papers 1901.05802, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2019.
    15. Drouhin, Nicolas, 2020. "Non-stationary additive utility and time consistency," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 1-14.
    16. Yu-Jui Huang & Zhou Zhou, 2022. "A time-inconsistent Dynkin game: from intra-personal to inter-personal equilibria," Finance and Stochastics, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 301-334, April.
    17. Matthew Rabin & Ted O'Donoghue, 1999. "Doing It Now or Later," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(1), pages 103-124, March.
    18. Tyson, Christopher J., 2008. "Management of a capital stock by Strotz's naive planner," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 2214-2239, July.
    19. Ted O'Donoghue & Matthew Rabin, 2001. "Choice and Procrastination," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(1), pages 121-160.
    20. Yu-Jui Huang & Zhou Zhou, 2021. "A Time-Inconsistent Dynkin Game: from Intra-personal to Inter-personal Equilibria," Papers 2101.00343, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2021.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:arx:papers:1707.04981. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    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.