Tat will tell: Tattoos and time preferences

Bradley Ruffle and Anne E. Wilson

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2019, vol. 166, issue C, 566-585

Abstract: Survey and experimental evidence documents discrimination against tattooed individuals in the labor market and in commercial transactions. Thus, individuals’ decision to get tattooed may reflect short-sighted time preferences. 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 helps establish the direction of causality between tattoos and short-sightedness.

Keywords: Experimental economics; Tattoo; Time preferences; Impulsivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 Z10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Tat will tell: Tattoos and time preferences (2018)
Working Paper: Tat will tell: Tattoos and time preferences (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:166:y:2019:i:c:p:566-585

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2019.08.001

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