We propose a model of chosen preferences together with conditions on choice data that make our model falsifiable and identifiable. Preferences on alternatives are induced by preferences on attributes—e.g. candidates for a job may be experienced or inexperienced. Choice behavior is driven by a...

How do future well-being and preferences affect the current well-being and preferences of forward-looking agents? Our theory explores this question, producing a new class of tractable models which capture and explain phenomena such as present bias, consumption interdependence, sign effects in...

This paper provides a revealed preference characterisation of quasi-hyperbolic discounting which is designed to be applied to readily-available expenditure surveys. We describe necessary and sufficient conditions for the leading forms of the model and also study the consequences of the...

Why are time-inconsistent preferences widespread among decision makers? This paper provides a possible explanation by showing that time-inconsistent preferences could be beneficial for decision makers that work together. Time-inconsistent preferences – which are usually blamed for having...

We prove that the standard quasi-geometric discounting model used in dynamic consumer theory and political economics does not possess continuous Markov perfect equilibria (MPE) if there is a strictly positive lower bound on wealth. We also show that, at points of discontinuity, the decision...

We propose a novel approach to modelling time preferences, based on a cognitive shortcoming of human decision makers: the perception of future events becomes increasingly "blurred" as the events are pushed further in time. We axiomatise a class of preference representations which can be...

This paper focuses on two main issues. First, we find that, on average, households' discount rates decline. This implies dynamically inconsistent preferences. Second, we calculate an indicator of the degree of dynamic inconsistency that may help us to understand how households overcome their...

Intertemporal tradeoffs play a key role in many personal decisions and policy questions. We describe models of intertemporal choice, identify empirical regularities in choice, and pose new questions for research. The focus for intertemporal choice research is no longer whether the exponential...

In this paper we re-examine the axiomatic basis of the key result on weighted utilitarian representation of preference orders on finite utility streams. We show that a preference order satisfying the axioms of Minimal Individual Symmetry, Invariance and Strong Pareto need not have a...

Behavioral economics rejects the Samuelsonian concept of revealed preferences, which, in turn, is a cornerstone for the development of modern neoclassical micro theory. This paper aims at criticizing the behavioral charge against revealed preferences, arguing that, while accepting the fact that...