Download This PaperHappiness and Time Preference: The Effect of Positive Affect in a Random- Assignment Experiment
33 Pages Posted: 19 Oct 2009 Last revised: 15 Jul 2010
Date Written: October 19, 2009
Abstract
We conduct a random-assignment experiment to investigate whether positive affect impacts time preference, where time preference denotes a preference for present over future utility. Our result indicates that, compared to neutral affect, mild positive affect significantly reduces subjects’ time preference. Affects were induced using short film clips.
Our result has implications for the effect of happiness on time preference and the role of emotions in economic decision making in general. Finally, we reconfirm the ubiquity of time preference and start to explore its determinants.
Keywords: positive affect, happiness, time preference, random-assignment
JEL Classification: JEL D01, D90, D60
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?
Recommended Papers
-
By Andrew J. Oswald, Eugenio Proto, ...
-
Happiness as a Driver of Risk-Avoiding Behavior
By Robert J. B. Goudie, Sach N. Mukherjee, ...
-
Prosocial Spending and Well-Being: Cross-Cultural Evidence for a Psychological Universal