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Risk Preferences Are Not Time Preferences: Discounted Expected Utility with a Disproportionate Preference for Certainty

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  • James Andreoni
  • Charles Sprenger

Abstract

Risk and time are intertwined. The present is known while the future is inherently risky. Discounted expected utility provides a simple, coherent structure for analyzing decisions in intertemporal, uncertain environments. However, we document robust violations of discounted expected utility, inconsistent with both prospect theory probability weighting and models with preferences for the resolution of uncertainty. We find that we can organize our data with surprising precision if we allow for a disproportionate preference for certainty. These results have potentially important implications for understanding dynamically inconsistent preferences.

Suggested Citation

  • James Andreoni & Charles Sprenger, 2010. "Risk Preferences Are Not Time Preferences: Discounted Expected Utility with a Disproportionate Preference for Certainty," NBER Working Papers 16348, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:16348
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    2. Salvador Cruz Rambaud & Ana María Sánchez Pérez, 2020. "Discounted and Expected Utility from the Probability and Time Trade-Off Model," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-17, April.
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    6. 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).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • D90 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - General

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