Temptation and Stochastic Preferences

This paper is concerned with the nature of temptation in stochastic choice models. In particular, we study the distinction between the two leading approaches to modeling temptation in the literature (dynamic inconsistency and costly self-control) when preferences are stochastic. We first design an experimental methodology to distinguish random Strotz preferences from random Gul-Pesendorfer (GP) preferences. We then implement this method in a field experiment that uses data on choices of menus combined with data on choices from menus of food items in a large pool of subjects during a three month period. The results show the presence of large proportions of both random Strotz types and random GP types