The Review of Economics and Statistics Vol. 105 No. 3 2023
Is Generosity Time-Inconsistent? Present Bias across Individual and Social Contexts
Abstract
We investigate dynamically inconsistent time preferences across contexts with and without interpersonal trade-offs. In a longitudinal experiment, participants make a series of intertemporal allocation decisions of real-effort tasks between themselves and another person. Our results reveal that agents are present-biased when making choices that affect only themselves but not when choosing on behalf of others. Despite this asymmetry, we find no evidence for time-inconsistent generosity, that is, when choices involve trade-offs between one's own and others' consumption. Structural estimations reveal no individual-level correlation of present bias across contexts. Discounting in social situations thus seems to be conceptually different from discounting in individual situations.
- DOI
- 10.1162/rest_a_01049
- Volume
- 105
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 683-699
- Language
- en
- Sources
- bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref