Impatience, Anticipatory Feelings and Uncertainty: A Dynamic Experiment on Time Preferences

Arbeitspapier

We study intertemporal choices through an experiment that elicits a subject's plan and then tracks its implementation over time. There are two main results. When facing a costly task to be completed under a deadline, two thirds of subjects prefer anticipating it rather than postponing it. Choice reversals are common although present-biased preferences alone cannot explain them. This evidence is compatible with models based on anticipatory feelings and stochastic utility.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Quaderni - Working Paper DSE ; No. 777

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Design of Experiments: Laboratory, Individual ; Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles ; Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty: General ; Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: General‡

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Casari, Marco ; Dragone, Davide
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche (DSE)
• (where): Bologna
• (when): 2011

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.6092/unibo/amsacta/4462
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/159616
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET