Time preferences and their life outcome correlates: Evidence from a representative survey

Daniel Horn and Hubert Janos Kiss

No 1901, Budapest Working Papers on the Labour Market from Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies

Abstract: We collect data on time preferences of a representative sample of the Hungarian population in a non-incentivized way and investigate how patience and present bias associate with important life outcomes in five domains: i) educational attainment, ii) unemployment, iii) income and wealth, iv) financial decisions and difficulties, and v) health. Based on the literature, we formulate the broad hypotheses that patience fosters, while present bias hinders positive outcomes in the domains under study. We document a consistent and often significant positive effect of patience in almost all areas (except unemployment), with the strongest effects in escaping low educational attainment, wealth and financial decisions. We find that present bias associates significantly with saving decisions and financial troubles.

Keywords: educational attainment; financial decisions and difficulties; income and wealth; patience; present bias; risk preferences. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 D14 D31 D90 I12 I21 J6 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 53 pages
Date: 2019-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe and nep-lab
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Time preferences and their life outcome correlates: Evidence from a representative survey (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:has:bworkp:1901

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