The Effect of Education on Time Preferences

Abstract

The author examines whether education increases patience. Admission decisions in a public college in Mexico are determined through a lottery. He finds that applicants who were successful in the draw were more likely to study in the following years. He surveyed the applicants to this college almost two years after the admission decision was made and measured their time preferences with a series of hypothetical inter-temporal choice questions. He finds that individuals who were successful in the admission lottery were, on average, more patient. He argues that this evidence points towards a causal effect of education on time preferences.