Title
Happiness and Time Preference: The Effect of Positive Affect in a Random-Assignment Experiment
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-2011
Publisher
American Economic Association
Abstract
We conduct a random-assignment experiment to investigate whether positive affect impacts time preference, where time preference denotes a preference for present over future utility. Our result indicates that, compared to neutral affect, mild positive affect significantly reduces time preference over money. This result is robust to various specification checks, and alternative interpretations of the result are considered. Our result has implications for the effect of happiness on time preference and the role of emotions in economic decision making, in general. Finally, we reconfirm the ubiquity of time preference and start to explore its determinants. (JEL D12, D83, I31)
Recommended Citation
Ifcher, John, and Homa Zarghamee. 2011. "Happiness and Time Preference: The Effect of Positive Affect in a Random-Assignment Experiment." American Economic Review, 101(7): 3109-29.
Comments
Copyright © 2011 by the American Economic Association.