This introductory article provides a short overview of empirical and theoretical articles presented in the special issue on psychological and neural models of intertemporal decision making, which is divided into 2 parts. The first part consists of contributions presenting different models of intertemporal choice. These contributions provide an overview of current conceptualizations; that is, pr...

■ Choosing between sooner smaller rewards and larger later rewards is a common choice problem, and studies widely agree that frontostriatal circuits heavily innervated by dopamine are centrally involved. Understanding how dopamine modulates intertemporal choice has important implications for neurobiological models and for understanding the mechanisms underlying maladaptive decision-making. Howe...

This paper examines how aversion to risk and aversion to intertemporal substitution determine the strength of the precautionary saving motive in a two-period model with Selden/Kreps-Porteus preferences. For small risks, we derive a measure of the strength of the precautionary saving motive which generalizes the concept of “prudence” introduced by Kimball [12]. For large risks, we show that decr...

This paper summarizes neoclassical, behavioral, and neuroeconomic models of intertemporal consumption and savings behavior. I summarize the construction and implications of Modigliani & Brumberg’s Life-Cycle Hypothesis [4] and Laibson’s quasi-hyperbolic consumption function [8] as background and motivation for Bisin & Benhabib’s neuroeconomic model of dynamic consumption behavior [3]. In partic...

This paper presents a dynamic general equilibrium model to illustrate how international trade and dynamic trade policies a¤ect industrialization, industrial upgrading, and economic growth in a two-country world, where there is an in…nite number of possible industries di¤erent in their capital intensities. Analytical solutions are obtained to fully characterize the endowment-driven industrializa...

In intertemporal choices, subjects face a trade-off between value and delay: achieving the most valuable outcome requires a longer time, whereas the immediately available option is objectively poorer. Intertemporal choices are ubiquitous, and comparative studies reveal commonalities and differences across species: all species devalue future rewards as a function of delay (delay aversion), yet t...

Intertemporal choice is predicated on the valuation of commodities with respect to delay until their receipt. Subjective value of a future outcome decreases, or is discounted, as a function of that delay (Bickel and Johnson, 2003). Although behavioral studies suggest no difference between the devaluation of real and fictive outcomes, no neuroimaging studies have investigated potential differenc...