IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/has/discpr/2512.html

A One-Sentence Nudge Against Present Focus

Author

Listed:
  • Ilia Aliaev

    (Corvinus University of Budapest)

  • Hubert János Kiss

    (ELTE Centre for Economic and Regional Studies; Corvinus University of Budapest)

Abstract

We test whether a single, neutral sentence reduces present-focused intertemporal choices. In a pre-registered classroom experiment (N=210) at Corvinus University of Budapest, first-year students made eight incentivized choices between a smaller immediate amount and larger amounts in two weeks. The treatment added a one-line, non-directive prompt—“Think carefully about all the possibilities that money would provide you”—intended to shift attention from when money arrives to what it enables. Descriptively and in OLS regressions, treated participants switch to the later–larger option at lower premia (effect size ≈ 0.1–0.2 SD), as hypothesized, but effects are not statistically significant. We interpret this as evidence that the prompt was too weak at the stakes and two-week horizon studied.

Suggested Citation

  • Ilia Aliaev & Hubert János Kiss, 2025. "A One-Sentence Nudge Against Present Focus," KRTK-KTI WORKING PAPERS 2512, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:has:discpr:2512
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://kti.krtk.hu/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/KRTKKTIWP202512.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Breuer, Wolfgang & Soypak, K. Can, 2015. "Framing effects in intertemporal choice tasks and financial implications," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 152-167.
    2. Matthew Rabin & Ted O'Donoghue, 1999. "Doing It Now or Later," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(1), pages 103-124, March.
    3. Faralla, Valeria & Novarese, Marco & Ardizzone, Antonella, 2017. "Framing Effects in Intertemporal Choice: A Nudge Experiment," MPRA Paper 82086, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. David Bradford & Charles Courtemanche & Garth Heutel & Patrick McAlvanah & Christopher Ruhm, 2017. "Time preferences and consumer behavior," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 119-145, December.
    5. Stephan Meier & Charles Sprenger, 2010. "Present-Biased Preferences and Credit Card Borrowing," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(1), pages 193-210, January.
    6. Armin Falk & Fabian Kosse & Pia Pinger & Hannah Schildberg-Hörisch & Thomas Deckers, 2021. "Socioeconomic Status and Inequalities in Children’s IQ and Economic Preferences," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(9), pages 2504-2545.
    7. Daniel Read & Shane Frederick & Burcu Orsel & Juwaria Rahman, 2005. "Four Score and Seven Years from Now: The Date/Delay Effect in Temporal Discounting," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(9), pages 1326-1335, September.
    8. M. Daniele Paserman, 2008. "Job Search and Hyperbolic Discounting: Structural Estimation and Policy Evaluation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(531), pages 1418-1452, August.
    9. Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Dahmann, Sarah C. & Kamhöfer, Daniel A. & Schildberg-Hörisch, Hannah, 2024. "Sophistication about self-control," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    10. George F. Loewenstein, 1988. "Frames of Mind in Intertemporal Choice," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 34(2), pages 200-214, February.
    11. Horn, Dániel & Kiss, Hubert János & Lénárd, Tünde, 2022. "Gender differences in preferences of adolescents: Evidence from a large-scale classroom experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 478-522.
    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. Ilia Aliaev & Hubert Janos Kiss, 2026. "A one-sentence nudge against present focus," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 46(2), pages 675-683.
    2. Bakó, Barna & Ertl, Antal & Kiss, Hubert János, 2026. "Remembering past present biases," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    3. Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Dahmann, Sarah C. & Kamhöfer, Daniel A. & Schildberg-Hörisch, Hannah, 2022. "The Predictive Power of Self-Control for Life Outcomes," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 725-744.
    4. Cruz Rambaud, Salvador & Ortiz Fernández, Piedad & Parra Oller, Isabel María, 2023. "A systematic review of the main anomalies in intertemporal choice," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    5. Weerachart Kilenthong & Sartja Duangchaiyoosook & Suparee Boonmanunt, 2026. "Roles of Parental Risk and Time Preferences in Parental Investment and Aspirations," PIER Discussion Papers 249, Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research.
    6. Faralla, Valeria & Novarese, Marco & Ardizzone, Antonella, 2017. "Framing Effects in Intertemporal Choice: A Nudge Experiment," MPRA Paper 82086, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Arthur E. Attema & Han Bleichrodt & Olivier L’Haridon & Patrick Peretti-Watel & Valérie Seror, 2018. "Discounting health and money: New evidence using a more robust method," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 117-140, April.
    8. Chen, Josie I. & He, Tai-Sen & Riyanto, Yohanes E., 2019. "The effect of language on economic behavior: Examining the causal link between future tense and time preference in the lab," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    9. Cobb-Clark, Deborah & Silva Goncalves, Juliana & Tymula, Agnieszka & Wang, Xueting, 2026. "The Conceptual Foundations of Self-Control and its Link to Impulsivity and Attention," IZA Discussion Papers 18646, IZA Network @ LISER.
    10. Chen‐Nan Liao & Ying‐Ju Chen, 2021. "Design of Long‐Term Conditional Cash Transfer Program to Encourage Healthy Habits," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(11), pages 3987-4003, November.
    11. Zafer Akin & Abdullah Yavaş, 2025. "Behavior in long‐run projects and elicited time preferences," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 46(1), pages 627-640, January.
    12. Tim Friehe & Markus Pannenberg, 2020. "Time preferences and political regimes: evidence from reunified Germany," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(1), pages 349-387, January.
    13. Scholten, Marc & Read, Daniel, 2006. "Beyond discounting: the tradeoff model of intertemporal choice," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 22710, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. Robert Nuscheler & Kerstin Roeder, 2016. "To Vaccinate or to Procrastinate? That is the Prevention Question," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(12), pages 1560-1581, December.
    15. Alexander M. Danzer & Helen Zeidler, 2025. "Food Waste and Dynamic Inconsistency: A Behavioral Economics Perspective," CESifo Working Paper Series 11781, CESifo.
    16. Peter Andre & Paul Heidhues & Botond Kőszegi & Takeshi Murooka, 2026. "Procrastination and Competition Failure," ISER Discussion Paper 1315, Institute of Social and Economic Research, The University of Osaka.
    17. Choi, Yoonseok, 2020. "Macroeconomic implications of dynamically inconsistent preferences," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 267-279.
    18. Boonmanunt, Suparee W. & Jantorn, Wasinee & Khruapradit, Varunee & Kilenthong, Weerachart T., 2025. "Intergenerational transmission of time preferences: Evidence from rural Thailand," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    19. Akin, Zafer & Yavas, Abdullah, 2023. "Elicited Time Preferences and Behavior in Long-Run Projects," MPRA Paper 117133, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Paul Calcott & Vladimir Petkov, 2022. "Excessive consumption and present bias," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 74(1), pages 113-134, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • C90 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - General
    • D01 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
    • D9 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics

    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:has:discpr:2512. 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: Nora Horvath The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask Nora Horvath to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iehashu.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.