Outcome- And Sign-Dependent Time Preferences: An Incentivized Intertemporal Choice Experiment Involving Effort And Money

Previous research consistently identified differences in time preferences between effort and monetary decisions. However, the root cause of this difference— whether it stemmed from the intrinsic nature of the outcomes or the associated pleasurable or unpleasurable experiences—remained undefined. In response, we conducted novel two-stage experiments employing a 2 2 design contrasting outcomes (money and effort) and domains (gain and loss). This approach allowed for the incentivization of all decisions, including those involving future monetary losses. Our study reveals that while there is no significant difference in present bias between monetary and effort-based choices, the degree of time inconsistency differs significantly, indicating outcome-dependent preferences. Across both experiments, we consistently found no evidence of present bias in any of the four conditions.