Time discounting for primary and monetary rewards

Ernesto Reuben, Paola Sapienza and Luigi Zingales

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: This paper shows that there is a positive and statistically significant correlation between the short-term discount rate over a monetary reward and the short-term discount rate over a primary reward (chocolate). This correlation, however, is absent among subjects who do not like chocolate and are not hungry. This suggests that monetary rewards are suitable for the study of intertemporal choice. In fact, given the problems associated with the use of primary rewards (differing tastes for the good, hunger, and possible satiation), we argue that measurement with monetary rewards is more reliable.

Keywords: time preferences; hyperbolic discounting; intertemporal choice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D01 D90 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Time discounting for primary and monetary rewards (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:10650

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