Why do some people think they will behave differently in the future? Building on research on dynamic inconsistency and age related preferences, this paper introduces the concept that inconsistent intertemporal preferences are directly related to age. In previous studies, standard socioeconomic...

Hyperbolic discounting (H) is currently the dominant behavioral model of intertemporal choice, since it better explains how people behave than the normatively correct exponential discounting model (E). This paper promotes an arithmetic discounting model (A) which challenges H. First, A is more...

This article casts doubt on the conclusion reached by experimentalists in behavioral economics (and other subjects such as social psychology and political science) that hyperbolic discounting explains their data better than exponential discounting. A dual expression to the exponential...

The recent literature has emphasized that government intervention when consumers have quasi-hyperbolic preferences ('bias for the present') over consumption is not welfare-enhancing. This paper introduces a market imperfection (which takes the form of a negative externality) and shows that...

Psychologists report that people make choices on the basis of "decision utilities" that routinely overestimate the "experienced utility" consequences of these choices. This paper argues that this dichotomy between decision and experienced utilities may be the solution to an evolutionary design...

This paper explores the microeconomics and dynamics of food and nutrition. It examines the linkages between malnutrition and the incentive to invest and accumulate capital. The analysis focuses on a dynamic model where preferences about the future depend on nutrition and health. Situations of...

Research has shown that procrastination has signicant adverse effects on individuals, including lower savings and poorer health. Procrastination is typically modeled as resulting from present bias. In this paper we study an alternative: excessively optimistic beliefs about future demands on an...