Procedures for Eliciting Time Preferences

David Freeman, Paola Manzini, Marco Mariotti and Luigi Mittone

No 9857, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We study three procedures to elicit attitudes towards delayed payments: the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak procedure; the second price auction; and the multiple price list. The payment mechanisms associated with these methods are widely considered as incentive compatible, thus if preferences satisfy Procedure Invariance, which is also widely (and often implicitly) assumed, they should yield identical time preference distributions. We find instead that the monetary discount rates elicited using the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak procedure are significantly lower than those elicited with a multiple price list. We show that the behavior we observe is consistent with an existing psychological explanation of preference reversals.

Keywords: Becker-DeGroot-Marschak procedure; elicitation methods; time preferences; auctions; multiple price list (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D9 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2016-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-exp and nep-upt
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

Published - revised version published in: Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organisation, 2016, 126 (Part A), 235–242

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Journal Article: Procedures for eliciting time preferences (2016)
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