An experiment on temptation and attitude towards paternalism

In this project we investigate experimentally the link between self-control and attitudetowards paternalism in a principal-agent framework. This allows us to distinguish between models ofcostly self-control and models of time inconsistency, which often make identical predictions in othercontexts. We invite our subjects for a free lunch: a burger or a turkey. We verify in a pre-test that theburger is considered (much) more tasty and tempting, while the turkey is seen as healthier. In theexperiment proper we observe incentivized choices of four types: what menus (must eat burger,must eat turkey, your choice: burger or turkey) subjects assign to another, how they reward each ofthese menu choices yet another participant made for them, which of the two dishes they pick on thespot (if given the choice), whether they want to pre-commit to a choice of dish for a future session.Similarly to some recent experimental results we find a significant fraction of subjects willing to selfcommit.We also observe non-trivial sets of individuals who reward highly a restricted choice andpaternalistically restrict other’s choice. Moreover, there is a strong link between these threetendencies, suggesting a common thread underlying the use of commitment devices andpaternalistic behavior as well as approval thereof in environments involving temptations. Thesefindings are consistent with the models of costly self-control rather than time inconsistency.