Procrastination and impatience
By: Ernesto Reuben, Paola Sapienza, Luigi Zingales.
Contributors: Sapienza, Paola.; Zingales, Luigi.; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series -- working paper 13713; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) -- working paper no. 13713.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2007
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Description: "There is a large body of literature documenting both a preference for immediacy and a tendency to procrastinate.  O'Donoghue and Rabin (1999a,b, 2001) and Choi et al.  (2005) model these behaviors as the two faces of the same phenomenon.  In this paper, we use a combination of lab, field, and survey evidence to study whether these two types of behavior are indeed linked.  To measure immediacy we had subjects choose between a series of smaller-sooner and larger-later rewards.  Both rewards were paid with a check in order to control for transaction costs.  To measure procrastination we use the subjects' actual behavior in cashing the check and completing tasks on time.  Our results lend support to the hypothesis that subjects who have a preference for immediacy are indeed more likely to procrastinate"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Title from PDF file as viewed on 6/6/2008.

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