How to measure time preferences: An experimental comparison of three methods

By David J. Hardisty, Katherine F. Thompson, David H. Krantz, Elke U. Weber. Judgment and Decision Making, 2013

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In two studies, time preferences for financial gains and losses at delays of up to 50 years were elicited using three different methods: matching, fixed-sequence choice titration, and a dynamic “staircase” choice method. Matching was found to create fewer demand characteristics and to produce better fits with the hyperbolic model of discounting. The choice-based measures better predicted real-world outcomes such as smoking and payment of credit card debt. No consistent advantages were found for the dynamic staircase method over fixed-sequence titration.

Subfields: Economics and Econometrics, General Decision Sciences

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c04c62aa2a86bf718a69560db84d5851a717dd5f