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Revealing Naïveté and Sophistication from Procrastination and Preproperation

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  • David J. Freeman

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel way of distinguishing whether a person is naive or sophisticated about her own dynamic inconsistency using only her task-completion behavior. It shows that adding an unused extra opportunity to complete a task can lead a naïve (but not a sophisticated) person to complete it later and can lead a sophisticated (but not a naïve) person to complete the task earlier. These results provide a framework for revealing preference and sophistication types from behavior in a general environment that includes that of O'Donoghue and Rabin (1999).

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  • David J. Freeman, 2021. "Revealing Naïveté and Sophistication from Procrastination and Preproperation," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(2), pages 402-438, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejmic:v:13:y:2021:i:2:p:402-38
    DOI: 10.1257/mic.20170270
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    Cited by:

    1. David J. Freeman & Kevin Laughren, 2024. "Task completion without commitment," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 27(2), pages 273-298, April.
    2. David S. Ahn & Ryota Iijima & Todd Sarver, 2017. "Naivet� About Temptation and Self-Control: Foundations for Naive Quasi-Hyperbolic Discounting," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2099, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    3. Ahn, David S. & Iijima, Ryota & Sarver, Todd, 2020. "Naivete about temptation and self-control: Foundations for recursive naive quasi-hyperbolic discounting," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    4. Xi Zhi Lim, 2021. "Ordered Reference Dependent Choice," Papers 2105.12915, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2024.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D15 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Intertemporal Household Choice; Life Cycle Models and Saving
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making

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