Is Generosity Time-Inconsistent? Present Bias across Individual and Social Contexts

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Koelle, Felix; Wenner, Lukas
• 署名单位: University of Cologne
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_01049
• 发表日期: 2023-05
• 页码: 683-699
• 关键词: impure altruism; intertemporal choice; preferences; utility; RISK

摘要

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.