Working Paper: NBER ID: w25590
Authors: James Andreoni; Michael A. Kuhn; John A. List; Anya Samek; Kevin Sokal; Charles Sprenger
Abstract: Time preferences have been correlated with a range of life outcomes, yet little is known about their early development. We conduct a field experiment to elicit time preferences of over 1,200 children ages 3-12, who make several intertemporal decisions. To shed light on how such primitives form, we explore various channels that might affect time preferences, from background characteristics to the causal impact of an early schooling program that we developed and operated. Our results suggest that time preferences evolve substantially during this period, with younger children displaying more impatience than older children. We also find a strong association with race: black children, relative to white or Hispanic children, are more impatient. Finally, assignment to different schooling opportunities is not significantly associated with child time preferences.
Keywords: Time Preferences; Child Development; Field Experiments; Early Childhood Education
JEL Codes: C9; C93; D03
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| younger children (J13) | higher levels of impatience (D91) |
| age (J14) | increased patience (D15) |
| race (J15) | impatience (D84) |
| CHECC program (C87) | greater patience (D15) |
| CHECC program (C87) | child time preferences (D15) |
| parent time preferences (J22) | child time preferences (D15) |