Time discounting, present biases, and health-related behaviors: Evidence from Japan

Myong-Il Kang and Shinsuke Ikeda

Economics & Human Biology, 2016, vol. 21, issue C, 122-136

Abstract: Human health is considered the outcome of intertemporal choices under tradeoffs between a small immediate reward and a larger delayed reward. Health-related behaviors are thus affected by personal time preferences. Based on an Internet-based survey conducted on Japanese adults, we contribute to the literature by incorporating the multifaceted nature of time discounting in an analysis of the associations between time preference and health-related behaviors. We find that, first, less patient respondents tend to exhibit worse health-related attributes. Second, present bias, which is measured by the degree of declining impatience, is positively associated with unhealthy behaviors for naïve respondents, who are unaware of their self-control problem. Third, such associations cannot be found in sophisticates, who are aware of that. As a policy implication, direct intervention policies, including “nudging,” are more effective than a commitment device provision in correcting the unhealthy behaviors due to present bias. Fourth, the sign effect, wherein future losses are discounted at a lower rate than future gains, is negatively associated with unhealthy outcomes, although at weak statistical significance levels.

Keywords: Health; Time preference; Discount rate; Hyperbolic discounting; Sign effect (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:21:y:2016:i:c:p:122-136

DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2015.09.005

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