The Value of Nothing: Asymmetric Attention to Opportunity Costs Drives Intertemporal Decision Making

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Read, Daniel; Olivola, Christopher Y.; Hardisty, David J.
• 署名单位: University of Warwick; Carnegie Mellon University; University of British Columbia
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2016.2547
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: 4277-4297
• 关键词: INTERTEMPORAL CHOICE; preferences; experiments; framing; replication

摘要

This paper proposes a novel account of impatience: People pay more attention to the opportunity costs of choosing larger, later rewards than to the opportunity costs of choosing smaller, sooner ones. Eight studies show that when the opportunity costs of choosing smaller, sooner rewards are subtly highlighted, people become more patient, whereas when the opportunity costs of choosing larger, later rewards are highlighted this has no effect. This pattern is robust to variations in the choice task, to the participant population, and to whether the choices are incentivized or hypothetical. We argue that people are naturally aware of the opportunity costs of delayed rewards but pay less attention to those associated with smaller, sooner ones. We conclude by discussing implications for theory and policy.