This paper analyzes an agent¡¯s option exercise decision under uncertainty. The agent decides whether and when to do an irreversible activity. He is tempted by immediate gratification and suffers from self-control problems. This paper adopts the Gul and Pensendorfer self- control utility model. Unlike the time inconsistent hyperbolic discounting model, it provides an explanation of procrastination and preproperation based on time consistency. When applied to the investment and exit problems, it is shown that (i) if the project value is immediate, an investor may invest in negative NPV projects; (ii) if the production cost is immediate, a firm may exit even if it makes positive net profits; and (iii) if both rewards and costs are immediate, an agent may simply follow the myopic rule which compares only the current period benefit and cost.
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Paper provided by EconWPA in its series Microeconomics with number
0409002.
Find related papers by JEL classification: D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior D2 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations D3 - Microeconomics - - Distribution D4 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure and Pricing
References listed on IDEAS 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.:
Per Krusell & Burhanettin Kuruscu & Anthony A. Smith, Jr., 2000.
"Temptation and Taxation,"
GSIA Working Papers
2001-12, Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business.
Ted O'Donoghue & Matthew Rabin, 1999.
"Doing It Now or Later,"
American Economic Review,
American Economic Association, vol. 89(1), pages 103-124, March.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Stefano DellaVigna & M. Daniele Paserman, 2004.
"Job Search and Impatience,"
NBER Working Papers
10837, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
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