Tat will tell: Tattoos and time preferences

Survey evidence suggests that the 40+ generation maintains negative stereotypes about tattoos, despite their prevalence. Because employers typically belong to this older generation, younger individuals' decision to get tattooed may reflect short-sightedness. Indeed, we show that, according to numerous measures, those with tattoos, especially visible ones, are more short-sighted and impulsive than the non-tattooed. Almost nothing mitigates these results, neither the motive for the tattoo, the time contemplated before getting tattooed nor the time elapsed since the last tattoo. Even the expressed intention to get a(nother) tattoo predicts increased short-sightedness and establishes the direction of causality between tattoos and short-sightedness.