title: Time discounting, present biases, and health-related behaviors: Evidence from Japan.
abstract: Human health is considered the outcome of intertemporal choices under tradeoffs between a small immediate reward and a larger delayed reward. Health-related behaviors are thus affected by personal time preferences. Based on an Internet-based survey conducted on Japanese adults, we contribute to the literature by incorporating the multifaceted nature of time discounting in an analysis of the associations between time preference and health-related behaviors. We find that, first, less patient respondents tend to exhibit worse health-related attributes. Second, present bias, which is measured by the degree of declining impatience, is positively associated with unhealthy behaviors for naïve respondents, who are unaware of their self-control problem. Third, such associations cannot be found in sophisticates, who are aware of that. As a policy implication, direct intervention policies, including "nudging," are more effective than a commitment device provision in correcting the unhealthy behaviors due to present bias. Fourth, the sign effect, wherein future losses are discounted at a lower rate than future gains, is negatively associated with unhealthy outcomes, although at weak statistical significance levels.
authors: Department of Business Administration, Korea University, 1-700 Ogawa-cho, Kodaira, Tokyo 187-8560, Japan. Electronic address: mkang@korea-u.ac.jp.
authors: Myong-Il
authors: MI
authors: Kang
authors: The Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), Osaka University, 6-1 Mihogaoka, Ibaraki, Osaka 560-0047, Japan. Electronic address: ikeda@iser.osaka-u.ac.jp.
authors: Shinsuke
authors: S
authors: Ikeda
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D009910:Oral Hygiene; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Discount rate; Health; Hyperbolic discounting; Sign effect; Time preference