Self-control exertion and the expression of time preference: Experimental results from Ethiopia |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Colorado College, 314 E Cache La Poudre St, Colorado Springs, CO 80903, USA;2. Kansas State University, 327 Waters Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA;3. Cornell University, 305 Savage Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA;1. Heidelberg University, Bergheimer Str. 58, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany;2. Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), L7, 1, 68161 Mannheim, Germany;1. Institute of Psychology, Department of Personality Psychology and Diagnostics, University of Bamberg, 96047 Bamberg, Germany;2. Institute of Psychology, Department of Social, Organizational and Economic Psychology, University of Erfurt, 99089 Erfurt, Germany;3. Center for Empirical Research in Economics and Behavioral Sciences (CEREB), University of Erfurt, 99089 Erfurt, Germany;1. National School of Development, Peking University, 100871 Beijing, China;2. Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg, Box 640, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden;1. Molecular Mind Laboratory, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Lucca, Italy;2. Department of Vision and Cognition, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Amsterdam, the Netherlands |
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| Abstract: | Classic economic theory assumes that time preference is a stable parameter. However, a large literature in psychology theory suggests that initial exertions of self-control affect one’s ability to deploy self-control subsequently. As savings decisions require individuals to make trade-offs between immediate gratification and future rewards, the self-control literature suggests that expression of time preference is susceptible to environmental influences, a contradiction of the neoclassical stability assumption. Empirical evidence is mixed. This paper proposes that self-control use has heterogeneous effects on the expression of economic time preference. Using a Stroop task to experimentally induce self-control fatigue in university students in Northern Ethiopia, we find that treated subjects with below median finances behave more impatiently in an incentivized time preference task than do untreated subjects. By contrast, treated relatively wealthy students do not behave differently than their untreated counterparts. Our results suggest that the psychological environment does affect the expression of time preference, but self-control use does not uniformly deplete patience for all subjects. Our results are most consistent with the process model of self-control. |
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| Keywords: | Time preference Ego-depletion Process model of self-control D01 D03 D9 |
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