IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cuf/wpaper/531.html

Capital Accumulation And Present-biased Preference

Author

Listed:
  • Wang Peng

    (Institute for Advanced Studies, Wuhan University)

  • Heng-fu Zou

    (Institute for Advanced Studies, Wuhan University
    CEMA in Central University of Finance and Economics)

Abstract

This paper reexamines the capital accumulation within a neo-classical growth model under the assumption of hyperbolic discounting as well as endogenous preference, finding that 1) two kinds of Naifs¡¯ behavior coincides under log utility; 2) increasing marginal impatience due to capital accumulation itself will negatively affect the steady state locus of consumption and capital; 3) the effect of hyperbolic settings through effective rate of preference is still ambiguous; 4) we prove the saddle-point equilibrium property for the steady state under various assumptions about individual¡¯s preference. Our model also justifies Max Weber's idea that although spirit of capitalism is an engine to capital accumulation, the subsequent growing wealth will damage this engine.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang Peng & Heng-fu Zou, 2012. "Capital Accumulation And Present-biased Preference," CEMA Working Papers 531, China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:cuf:wpaper:531
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://down.aefweb.net/WorkingPapers/w531.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Heng-fu Zou, 1998. "The spirit of capitalism, social status, money, and accumulation," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 68(3), pages 219-233, October.
    2. Gary S. Becker & Casey B. Mulligan, 1997. "The Endogenous Determination of Time Preference," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(3), pages 729-758.
    3. Brocas, Isabelle & Carrillo, Juan D, 1999. "Entry Mistakes, Entrepreneurial Boldness and Optimism," CEPR Discussion Papers 2213, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    4. Zou, Heng-fu, 1994. "'The spirit of capitalism' and long-run growth," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 279-293, July.
    5. Juan D. Carrillo & Thomas Mariotti, 2000. "Strategic Ignorance as a Self-Disciplining Device," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 67(3), pages 529-544.
    6. repec:pri:wwseco:dp209.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Epstein, Larry G & Hynes, J Allan, 1983. "The Rate of Time Preference and Dynamic Economic Analysis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 91(4), pages 611-635, August.
    8. Robert J. Barro, 1999. "Ramsey Meets Laibson in the Neoclassical Growth Model," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(4), pages 1125-1152.
    9. David Laibson, 1997. "Golden Eggs and Hyperbolic Discounting," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(2), pages 443-478.
    10. David I. Laibson, 1996. "Hyperbolic Discount Functions, Undersaving, and Savings Policy," NBER Working Papers 5635, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Heng-fu Zou, 1995. "The spirit of capitalism and savings behavior," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 131-143, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Strulik, Holger, 2016. "Limited self-control and long-run growth," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 1-8.
    2. Gootzeit, Michael & Schneider, Johannes & Smith, William, 2002. "Marshallian recursive preferences and growth," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 381-404, November.
    3. Drouhin, Nicolas, 2020. "Non-stationary additive utility and time consistency," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 1-14.
    4. Strulik, Holger, 2015. "Hyperbolic discounting and endogenous growth," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 131-134.
    5. Brocas, Isabelle & Carrillo, Juan D, 1999. "On Rush and Procrastination," CEPR Discussion Papers 2237, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    6. Calcott, Paul & Petkov, Vladimir, 2024. "How innocuous is it to approximate globally decreasing impatience with quasi-hyperbolic discounting?," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    7. Geraats, P.M., 2005. "Intertemporal Substitution and Hyperbolic Discounting," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0515, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    8. Hung‐Ju Chen & Jang‐Ting Guo, 2009. "Social Status And The Growth Effect Of Money," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 60(1), pages 133-141, March.
    9. Rubinstein, Ariel, 2001. "A theorist's view of experiments," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(4-6), pages 615-628, May.
    10. Ono, Y., 2001. "Growth or Stagnation: Economic Consequences of Status Preference," ISER Discussion Paper 0524, Institute of Social and Economic Research, The University of Osaka.
    11. Liutang Gong & William Smith & Heng-fu Zou, 2007. "Asset Prices and Hyperbolic Discounting," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 8(2), pages 397-414, November.
    12. Kirill Borissov & Mikhail Pakhnin & Ronald Wendner, 2020. "Naive Agents with Quasi-hyperbolic Discounting and Perfect Foresight," EUSP Department of Economics Working Paper Series 2020/03, European University at St. Petersburg, Department of Economics.
    13. Robert J. Barro, 1997. "Myopia and Inconsistency in the Neoclassical Growth Model," NBER Working Papers 6317, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Chavas, Jean-Paul, 2013. "On the microeconomics of food and malnutrition under endogenous discounting," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 80-96.
    15. Caliendo, Frank N. & Findley, T. Scott, 2019. "Commitment and welfare," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 210-234.
    16. Battaglini, Marco & Benabou, Roland & Tirole, Jean, 2005. "Self-control in peer groups," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 123(2), pages 105-134, August.
    17. Yanzhao Liu & Liutang Gong & Jianjian Liu & Chan Wang, 2022. "Dynamic Efficiency in an OLG Model With the Spirit of Capitalism," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 23(2), pages 315-328, November.
    18. Zijian Zark Wang, 2025. "An Attentional Model of Time Discounting," Papers 2505.13016, arXiv.org.
    19. Takeo Hori & Koichi Futagami, 2019. "A Non‐unitary Discount Rate Model," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 86(341), pages 139-165, January.
    20. Yulei Luo & Jun Nie & Heng-fu Zou, 2021. "Wealth in the Utility Function and Consumption Inequality," Research Working Paper RWP 21-17, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D90 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - General
    • E13 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Neoclassical

    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:cuf:wpaper:531. 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: Qiang Gao (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/emcufcn.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.