It has been suggested that the long-term discount rate for environmental goods should decrease at longer delays. One justification for this suggestion is that human judgments support it. This article presents an experiment showing that judgments concerning discount rates are internally inconsistent. These results point to potential problems with the use of judgments referenda for determining di...

To justify substantial carbon emission reductions, recent literature on cost-benefit analysis of climate change suggests discounting environmental quality at a lower discount rate than the standard consumption discount rate. Recent literature also shows that a theoretical foundation for such a lower environmental discount rate requires rising willingness-to-pay for environmental quality (WTP). ...

The Minority Game is a model of interacting agents, who try to choose between two options every day, and those who are in the minority are winners. In an earlier paper, efficient stochastic strategies for this game was analyzed when the number of agents is 3, 5, 7. When the number of agents is large, the behaviour is qualitatively different, and as the discount parameter is varied, there is a s...

A discount may be defined by the location in which, and frame by which, it is communicated. Discount framing, particularly the differences etween cents-off and percentage-off discounts, has been widely studied. Discount location (e.g., proximate to or distal from regular price info) has eceived considerably less attention. We employ the proximity-compatibility principle and tenets of human memo...

Discount rates are often used in cost-benefit analysis. Whenever costs and benefits for a household or individual are spread over time, it is essential that one calculate present-value equivalents in order to undertake meaningful comparisons. In most cases welfare analysts use market rates as the basis for these present-value calculations. Sensitivity analysis often consists of varying the scal...

We explore intertemporal decision making to test the extent to which elicited discount rates and a self-reported scale of impatience measure the same behavioral characteristic. We conduct experiments in which we elicit discount rates using monetary rewards and a self-reported measure of impatience (the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, BIS-11). Although researchers have utilized these measures to in...