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Direct Measures of Time Preference

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  • Luigi Ventura

    (Universita di Roma “La Sapienza”)

Abstract

This work constitutes an attempt to estimate time preference factors in a direct way from survey data, without relying on consumption data and on particular estimation techniques. By using microeconomic data obtained from the Bank of Italy Survey of Household Income and Wealth (for the year 2000) and a simple second order Taylor expansion of a generic utility function we will compute, for each agent, a utility discount factor. The interesting features of the dataset will also enable us to relate discount factors to a large number of social, economic, and demographic variables. Agents do appear to discount future utility flows at rates which vary across age, education, civil status, income and wealth situations; more importantly, it is suggested that risk and market incompleteness should be considered as important determinants of time preference parameters.

Suggested Citation

  • Luigi Ventura, 2003. "Direct Measures of Time Preference," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 34(3), pages 293-310.
    • Handle: RePEc:eso:journl:v:34:y:2003:i:3:p:293-310
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    2. Breitkopf, Laura & Chowdhury, Shyamal K. & Priyam, Shambhavi & Schildberg-Hörisch, Hannah & Sutter, Matthias, 2020. "Do economic preferences of children predict behavior?," DICE Discussion Papers 342, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    3. Devis Geron, 2011. "Severance Pay or Pension Funds?," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0139, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno".
    4. Armin Falk & Anke Becker & Thomas Dohmen & Benjamin Enke & David Huffman & Uwe Sunde, 2018. "Global Evidence on Economic Preferences," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 133(4), pages 1645-1692.
    5. Gao,Nan & Ma,Yuanyuan & Xu,L. Colin, 2020. "Credit Constraints and Fraud Victimization : Evidence from a Representative Chinese Household Survey," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9460, The World Bank.
    6. Klaus Nowotny, 2010. "Risk Aversion, Time Preference and Cross-border Commuting and Migration Intentions," WIFO Working Papers 379, WIFO.
    7. Harashima, Taiji, 2010. "Sustainable Heterogeneity: Inequality, Growth, and Social Welfare in a Heterogeneous Population," MPRA Paper 22521, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Strulik, Holger, 2012. "Patience and prosperity," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 147(1), pages 336-352.
    9. 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.
    10. Ken-Ichi Hirose & Shinsuke Ikeda, 2015. "Decreasing Marginal Impatience and Capital Accumulation in a Two-Country World Economy," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 66(3), pages 474-507, July.
    11. He, Qichun, 2011. "The impact of the distribution of property rights on inventions on growth: a two-representative-agent model with asymmetric information," MPRA Paper 34450, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Harashima, Taiji, 2011. "A Mechanism of Inflation Differentials and Current Account Imbalances in the Euro Area," MPRA Paper 28121, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. C. Leigh ANDERSON & Mary Kay GUGERTY, 2009. "Intertemporal Choice And Development Policy: New Evidence On Time‐Varying Discount Rates From Vietnam And Russia," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 47(2), pages 123-146, June.
    14. Reyes, René & Nelson, Harry & Zerriffi, Hisham, 2021. "How do decision makers´ ethnicity and religion influence the use of forests? Evidence from Chile," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    15. Debajyoti Chakrabarty, 2022. "Taxation and human capital accumulation with endogenous mortality," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 73(4), pages 555-596, October.
    16. Falk, A. & Becker, A. & Dohmen, T.J. & Enke, B. & Huffman, D. & Sunde, U., 2015. "The nature and predictive power of preferences : global evidence," ROA Research Memorandum 012, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
    17. Girard, Yann & Hett, Florian & Schunk, Daniel, 2015. "How individual characteristics shape the structure of social networks," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 197-216.
    18. C. Giannetti, 2014. "Time Preference Instability, Financial and Working Status," Working Papers wp924, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    19. Hanjin Li & Danny Campbell & Seda Erdem, 2022. "Measuring Time Preferences Using Stated Credit Repayment Choices," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 20(1), pages 43-67, March.
    20. Joseph Eisenhauer & Luigi Ventura, 2006. "The prevalence of hyperbolic discounting: some European evidence," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(11), pages 1223-1234.
    21. De Paola, Maria & Gioia, Francesca, 2013. "Does Patience Matter for Marriage Stability? Some Evidence from Italy," IZA Discussion Papers 7769, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
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