Psychological and Biological Foundations of Time Preference: Evidence from a Day Reconstruction Study with Biological Tracking

Michael Daly (), Liam Delaney and Colm P. Harmon ()
Additional contact information
Michael Daly: Trinity College Dublin
Colm P. Harmon: University of Edinburgh

No 3674, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper considers the relationship between the economic concept of time preference and relevant concepts from psychology and biology. Using novel data from a time diary study conducted in Ireland that combined detailed psychometric testing with medical testing and real-time bio-tracking, we examine the distribution of a number of psychometric measures linked to the economic concept of time preferences and test the extent to which these measures form coherent clusters and the degree to which these clusters are related to underlying biological substrates. The paper finds that financial discounting is related to a range of psychological variables including consideration of future consequences, self-control, conscientiousness, extraversion, and experiential avoidance as well as being predicted by heart rate variability and blood pressure.

Keywords: economics and biology; economics and psychology; day reconstruction study; time preferences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C81 D01 D84 D91 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 14 pages
Date: 2008-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe and nep-hpe
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published as 'Psychological and Biological Foundations of Time Preference' in: Journal of the European Economic Association, 7 (2-3), 2009, 659 - 669

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Related works:
Working Paper: Psychological and Biological Foundations of Time Preference: Evidence from a Day Reconstruction Study with Biological Tracking (2008)
Working Paper: Psychological and biological foundations of time preference: evidence from a day reconstruction study with biological tracking (2008)
Working Paper: Psychological and biological foundations of time preference: evidence from a day reconstruction study with biological tracking (2008)
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