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Time Preferences over the Life Cycle and Household Saving Puzzles

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  • Wataru Kureishi
  • Hannah Paule-Paludkiewicz
  • Hitoshi Tsujiyama
  • Midori Wakabayashi

Abstract

Most economic models assume that time preferences are stable over time, but the evidence on their long-term stability is lacking. We study whether and how time preferences change over the life cycle, exploiting representative long-term panel data. We provide new evidence that discount rates decrease with age and the decline is remarkably linear over the life cycle. Decreasing discounting helps a canonical life-cycle model to explain the household saving puzzles of undersaving when young and oversaving after retirement. Relative to the model with constant discounting, the model’s fit to consumption and asset data profiles improves by 40% and 30%, respectively.

Suggested Citation

  • Wataru Kureishi & Hannah Paule-Paludkiewicz & Hitoshi Tsujiyama & Midori Wakabayashi, 2021. "Time Preferences over the Life Cycle and Household Saving Puzzles," CESifo Working Paper Series 8935, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8935
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    1. Time Preferences over the Life Cycle and Household Saving Puzzles
      by Christian Zimmermann in NEP-DGE blog on 2021-03-29 21:52:42

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    Cited by:

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    4. Richard Foltyn & Jonna Olsson, 2021. "Subjective Life Expectancies, Time Preference Heterogeneity, and Wealth Inequality," Working Papers 2021_13, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    5. Torben M. Andersen & Cecilie Marie Løchte Jørgensen, 2024. "The Distributional Implications of Pension Benefit Indexation," CESifo Working Paper Series 10943, CESifo.
    6. Roman Kozlov, 2023. "The Effect of Interest Rate Changes on Consumption: An Age-Structured Approach," Economies, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-25, January.
    7. OTA Rui & ITO Arata & SATO Masahiro & YANO Makoto, 2022. "Social Learning and Behavioral Change When Faced with the COVID-19 Pandemic: A big data analysis," Discussion papers 22065, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    time preferences; preference stability; discount rates; household saving puzzles;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D15 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Intertemporal Household Choice; Life Cycle Models and Saving
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General

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