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The Financial Cost of Sadness

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  • Lerner, Jennifer S.
  • Li, Ye
  • Weber, Elke

Abstract

This paper hypothesizes a phenomenon—myopic misery—in which sadness creates a myopic focus on obtaining money now versus later, increasing intertemporal discount rates and thereby producing substantial financial costs. Experiments 1-3 randomly assigned participants to a sad- or neutral-mood condition, and then offered intertemporal choices. Disgust served as a comparison condition in Experiments 1-2. Results revealed that sadness significantly increased impatience: Relative to median neutral-mood participants, median sad-mood participants accepted 13% to 34% less money today to avoid waiting three months for payment. Impatient thoughts mediated the effects. Disgusted participants were not more impatient than neutral participants, implying that the financial effects do not arise from all negative emotions. The paper concludes that myopic misery is a robust and potentially harmful phenomenon.

Suggested Citation

  • Lerner, Jennifer S. & Li, Ye & Weber, Elke, 2012. "The Financial Cost of Sadness," Scholarly Articles 9642634, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
    • Handle: RePEc:hrv:hksfac:9642634
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    1. Thaler, Richard H & Shefrin, H M, 1981. "An Economic Theory of Self-Control," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(2), pages 392-406, April.
    2. Cryder, Cynthia E. & Lerner, Jennifer & Gross, James J. & Dahl, Ronald E., 2008. "Misery Is Not Miserly," Scholarly Articles 37093805, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
    3. John Ifcher & Homa Zarghamee, 2011. "Happiness and Time Preference: The Effect of Positive Affect in a Random-Assignment Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(7), pages 3109-3129, December.
    4. George Loewenstein & Drazen Prelec, 1992. "Anomalies in Intertemporal Choice: Evidence and an Interpretation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(2), pages 573-597.
    5. David Laibson, 1997. "Golden Eggs and Hyperbolic Discounting," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(2), pages 443-478.
    6. Kovalchik, Stephanie & Camerer, Colin F. & Grether, David M. & Plott, Charles R. & Allman, John M., 2005. "Aging and decision making: a comparison between neurologically healthy elderly and young individuals," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 79-94, September.
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    1. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6b7kf1issd8leb93o27ofdm8cu is not listed on IDEAS
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