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Waiting to Choose: The Role of Deliberation in Intertemporal Choice

  • Alex Imas
  • Michael A. Kuhn
  • Vera Mironova
American Economic Journal: Microeconomics
vol. 14, no. 3, August 2022
(pp. 414-40)
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Abstract

We study the impact of deliberation on intertemporal choices. Using multiple experiments, including a field study in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we show that the introduction of waiting periods—a policy that temporally separates information about choices from choices themselves—causes substantially less myopic decisions. These results cannot be captured by models of exponential discounting nor present bias. Comparing the effects of waiting periods to making planned choices over future time periods, the former has a larger impact on reducing myopia. Our results highlight the role of deliberation in decision-making and have implications for policy and intervention design.

Citation

Imas, Alex, Michael A. Kuhn, and Vera Mironova. 2022. "Waiting to Choose: The Role of Deliberation in Intertemporal Choice." American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 14 (3): 414-40. DOI: 10.1257/mic.20180233

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • C93 Field Experiments
  • D12 Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
  • D83 Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
  • D91 Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
  • O12 Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
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