A More Realistic Endogenous Time Preference Model and the Slump in Japan

This paper presents a more realistic endogenous time preference model, incorporating the property that impatience decreases as consumption increases. The model overcomes a serious drawback of the existing model, which needs the assumption of increasing impatience. The new model is applied to the Japanese economy, which has been mired in a persistent slump since the early 1990s, and the hypothesis that a time preference rate shift is the main cause of the slump is explored. The estimated time preference rate clearly shows that an upward time preference shift of about 2% occurred in Japan.