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The prevalence of hyperbolic discounting: some European evidence

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  • Joseph Eisenhauer
  • Luigi Ventura

Abstract

Experimental matching data are used from the 2000 Bank of Italy Survey of Household Income and Wealth (SHIW) and the 2000 wave of the Center for Economic Research (CentER) Savings Survey at Tilburg University to compare the relative frequencies of hyperbolic and exponential discounters. Among 3200 Italian respondents and 1400 Dutch respondents, less than a quarter exhibited hyperbolic discounting. This finding is both statistically significant and robust with respect to various assumptions regarding utility; moreover, it holds across a wide variety of economic, social and demographic characteristics. The youngest, poorest, most urban and least educated individuals are the most likely to be hyperbolic discounters. In addition, it is found that hyperbolic discounters accumulate less wealth and are somewhat less likely than exponential discounters to utilize commitment devices to constrain their future choices.

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  • Joseph Eisenhauer & Luigi Ventura, 2006. "The prevalence of hyperbolic discounting: some European evidence," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(11), pages 1223-1234.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:38:y:2006:i:11:p:1223-1234
    DOI: 10.1080/00036840500392391
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    4. Bernergård, Axel, 2019. "Self-control problems and the folk theorem," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 332-347.
    5. Klaus Nowotny, 2010. "Risk Aversion, Time Preference and Cross-border Commuting and Migration Intentions," WIFO Working Papers 379, WIFO.
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    7. Bernergård, Axel, 2011. "Folk Theorems for Present-Biased Players," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 736, Stockholm School of Economics.
    8. Thomas Demuynck, 2009. "Absolute and Relative Time-Consistent Revealed Preferences," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 66(3), pages 283-299, March.
    9. Łukasz Balbus & Kevin Reffett & Łukasz Woźny, 2015. "Time consistent Markov policies in dynamic economies with quasi-hyperbolic consumers," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 44(1), pages 83-112, February.
    10. Bård Harstad, 2013. "Investment Policy for Time-Inconsistent Discounters," CESifo Working Paper Series 4546, CESifo.
    11. Lin Zhang, 2013. "Saving and retirement behavior under quasi-hyperbolic discounting," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 109(1), pages 57-71, May.
    12. Gopi Shah Goda & Matthew R. Levy & Colleen Flaherty Manchester & Aaron Sojourner & Joshua Tasoff, 2015. "The Role of Time Preferences and Exponential-Growth Bias in Retirement Savings," NBER Working Papers 21482, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Gopi Shah Goda & Matthew Levy & Colleen Flaherty Manchester & Aaron Sojourner & Joshua Tasoff, 2019. "Predicting Retirement Savings Using Survey Measures Of Exponential‐Growth Bias And Present Bias," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 57(3), pages 1636-1658, July.
    14. Myong‐Il Kang & Shinsuke Ikeda, 2014. "Time Discounting And Smoking Behavior: Evidence From A Panel Survey," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(12), pages 1443-1464, December.
    15. Victor Stango & Jonathan Zinman, 2019. "We are all Behavioral, More or Less: Measuring and Using Consumer-level Behavioral Sufficient Statistics," NBER Working Papers 25540, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Gibbons, Brian & Paxton, Julia, 2015. "Youth and inexperience: Dynamic inconsistency among emerging adults," Economics Discussion Papers 2015-19, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    17. Anderberg, Dan & Rainer, Helmut & Roeder, Kerstin, 2018. "Family-specific investments and divorce with dynamically inconsistent households: Marital contracts and policy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 199-225.
    18. 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.
    19. Victor Stango & Joanne Yoong & Jonathan Zinman, 2017. "The Quest for Parsimony in Behavioral Economics: New Methods and Evidence on Three Fronts," NBER Working Papers 23057, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Joshua Tasoff & Wenjie Zhang, 2022. "The Performance of Time-Preference and Risk-Preference Measures in Surveys," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(2), pages 1149-1173, February.
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