I study whether saving behavior reveals socially relevant intertemporal preferences. To this end, I decompose the present generation's preference for the next into its dynastic and cross-dynastic components in a model of saving. If people are concerned about the next generation as such, then...

We introduce a fast upper-envelope scan (FUES) method to compute solutions for dynamic programming problems with continuous and discrete choices. The FUES method builds on the standard endogenous grid method (EGM). Standard EGM applied to problems with continuous and discrete choices does not by...

I study whether saving behavior reveals socially relevant intertemporal preferences. To this end, I decompose the present generation’s preference for the next into its dynastic and cross-dynastic components in a model of saving. If people are concerned about the next generation as such, then...

This paper studies whether saving behavior reveals socially relevant intertemporal preferences. I decompose the present generation's preference for the next into its dynastic and cross-dynastic components. If people are concerned about sustainability or if their descendants move or marry, then...

This paper estimates the importance of temptation (Gul and Pesendorfer, 2001) for consumption smoothing and asset accumulation in a structural life-cycle model. We use two complementary estimation strategies: first, we estimate the Euler equation of this model; and second we match liquid and...

Decisions with long-term consequences require comparing utility derived from present consumption to future welfare. But can we infer socially relevant intertemporal preferences from saving behavior? I allow for a decomposition of the present generation's preference for the next generation into...