This paper argues that observations of non-stationary choice behavior need not necessarily imply specific properties of the individual's discount function. As we show, the observed quot;anomaliesquot; in intertemporal choice can alternatively be explained by an individual's perception of the...

The paper develops an axiomatic framework for rational decision making. The von Neumann-Morgenstern axioms give rise to a richer risk attitude than that captured in the standard discounted expected utility model. I derive three models that permit a more comprehensive risk evaluation. These...

This study analyses the relation between perceived health status and intertemporal choice. We use data from experiments with real monetary rewards conduEted among students in South Africa to estimate risk and time preferences. These experimental data, based on muitiple price lists developed by...

Many empirical studies on intertemporal choice report preference reversals in the sensethat a preference between a small reward to be received soon and a larger reward to bereceived later reverses as both rewards are equally delayed. Such preference reversals arecommonly interpreted as...

Addiction has attracted considerable attention in health and behavioral economics, and economists have attempted to understand addiction from the viewpoint of decision making over time. This paper investigates whether two time preference parameters can successfully predict smoking status,...

Several discounted utility anomalies are explained as rational choices of an agent with standard preferences and stochastic income. We define the term structure of absolute risk aversion and demonstrate that the gain-loss asymmetry is observed for small gains and losses and a general utility...

This paper studies a continuous-time, nite-horizon contracting problem with renegotiationand dynamic inconsistency arising from non-exponential discounting. Theproblem is formulated as a dynamic game played among the agent, the principal andtheir respective future "selves", each with their own...

The paper presents empirical results on the discounting of delayed payoffs which show that: (1) the best approximation of the discounting process is a hyperbolic function, (2) (both animals and humans) can reverse their preferences in time. The article presents theoretical conditions on the...

The real options approach is used to explain discounted utility anomalies as artifacts of the optimizing behavior of an individual with standard preferences, who perceives the utility from consumption in the future as uncertain. For this individual,waiting is valuable because uncertainty is...

We explain essentially all known discounted utility anomalies as artefacts of the optimizing behavior of an individual with a time-separable utility function, who perceives a good as a source of a stochastic consumption stream, and believes that she can wait for an optimal moment to buy or sell...