Effects of poverty on impatience: preferences or inattention?

0490272 - NHÚ 2019 CZ eng V - Research Report
Bartoš, V. - Bauer, Michal - Chytilová, Julie - Levely, I.
Effects of poverty on impatience: preferences or inattention?.
Prague: CERGE-EI, 2018. 62 s. CERGE-EI Working Paper Series, 623. ISSN 1211-3298
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA17-13869S
Institutional support: RVO:67985998
Keywords : poverty * scarcity * time discounting
Subject RIV: AH - Economics
https://www.cerge-ei.cz/pdf/wp/Wp623.pdf

We study two psychological channels how poverty may increase impatient behavior – an effect
on time preference and reduced attention. We measured discount rates among Ugandan farmers
who made decisions about when to enjoy entertainment instead of working. We find that
experimentally induced thoughts about poverty-related problems increase the preference to
consume entertainment early and delay work. The effect is equivalent to a 27 p.p. increase in
the intertemporal rate of substitution. Using monitoring tools similar to eye tracking, a novel
feature for this subject pool, we show this effect is not due to a lower ability to sustain attention.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0286602