1. The globalizability of temporal discounting
- Author
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Kai Ruggeri, Amma Panin, Milica Vdovic, Bojana Većkalov, Nazeer Abdul-Salaam, Jascha Achterberg, Jolly Amatya, Kanchan Amatya, Arjoon Arunasalam, Sarah Ashcroft-Jones, Aseman Bagheri Sheshdeh, Eike Kofi Buabang, Matthias Burghart, Sibele Dias Aquino, Ludvig Daae Bjørndal, Ana-Maria Cazan, Georgia Clay, Simone D'Ambrogio, Tatianna Dugue, David Feng, René Freichel, Lucia Freira, Maja Friedemann, Ziwei Gao, Sandra Jeanette Geiger, Marlene Hecht, David Izydorczyk, Lea Jakob, Hannes Jarke, Ondřej Kácha, Ralitsa Karakasheva, Emmanuel Kemel, Jakub Maciej Krawiec, Nato Lagidze, Aleksandra Lazić, Hyung Seo Lee, Zan Lep, Samuel Lins, Metasebiya Ayele Mamo, Silvana Mareva, Sebastian A. Meyer, Lucy McGill, Sharon McParland, Szymon Bartłomiej Mizak, Aizhan Mukhyshbayeva, Joaquin Navajas, Dragana Neshevska, Ana Elsa Nieto, Franziska Nippold, Julia Marie Oberschulte, Riinu Pae, Tsvetelina Panchelieva, Sun Young Park, Daria Stefania Pascu, Gerhard M. Prinz, Nikolay R. Rachev, Josip Razum, Charlotte Rutherford, Rand Said, Inés Sanguino, Yarden Shir, D. Elisabeth C. Sievert, Irina Soboleva, Felice Tavera, Anna Louise Todsen, Volodymyr Vakhitov, Adrianna Jordan Valencia, Tina Venema, Jáchym Vintr, Marek Albert Vranka, Lisa Wagner, Kailin Xu, Aleksandra Yosifova, Zorana Zupan, and Eduardo Garcia-Garzon
- Abstract
Economic inequality is associated with extreme rates of temporal discounting, which is a behavioral pattern where individuals choose smaller, immediate financial gains over larger, delayed gains. Such patterns may feed into rising global inequality, yet it is unclear if they are a function of choice preferences or norms, or rather absence of sufficient resources to meet immediate needs. It is also not clear if these reflect true differences in choice patterns between income groups. We test temporal discounting and five intertemporal choice anomalies using local currencies and value standards in 61 countries. Across a diverse sample of 13,629 participants, we found highly consistent rates of choice anomalies. Individuals with lower incomes were not significantly different, but economic inequality and broader financial circumstances impact population choice patterns.
- Published
- 2021