The globalizability of temporal discounting

• Published in: Nature human behaviour Vol. 6; no. 10; pp. 1386 - 1397
• Main Authors: Ruggeri, Kai, Abdul-Salaam, Nazeer, Achterberg, Jascha, Akil, Carla, Aquino, Sibele D., Arunasalam, Arjoon, Ashcroft-Jones, Sarah, Askelund, Adrian Dahl, Ayacaxli, Nélida, Sheshdeh, Aseman Bagheri, Barea Arroyo, Paula, Mejía, Genaro Basulto, Berge, Mari Louise, Bermaganbet, Aliya, Bibilouri, Katherine, Bjørndal, Ludvig Daae, Lyshol, Johanna K. Blomster, Brik, Tymofii, Buabang, Eike Kofi, Burghart, Matthias, Buzayu, Naos Mesfin, de Carvalho, Nathalia Melo, Cazan, Ana-Maria, Çetinçelik, Melis, Chai, Valentino E., Chen, Patricia, Chen, Shiyi, Clay, Georgia, Duffy, Grace, Envuladu, Esther Awazzi, Erceg, Nikola, Esteban-Serna, Celia, Fedryansyah, Muhammad, Feng, David, Filippi, Silvia, Freira, Lucia, Gao, Ziwei, Grabovski, Iulia, Gracheva, Aleksandra, Hasan, Nida, Hong, Xinyi, Hubená, Barbora, Ikonomeas, Alexander Gustav Fredriksen, Ilić, Sandra, Izydorczyk, David, Janssens, Margo, Kácha, Ondřej, Kapingura, Forget Mingiri, Karakasheva, Ralitsa, Khorrami, Peggah, Krawiec, Jakub M., Lazarević, Aleksandra, Lazić, Aleksandra, Lofthus, Ingvild Sandø, Macchia, Lucía, Mamede, Salomé, Mamo, Metasebiya Ayele, Maratkyzy, Laura, Mareva, Silvana, Marwaha, Shivika, McGill, Lucy, McParland, Sharon, Melnic, Anișoara, Meyer, Sebastian A., Mukhyshbayeva, Aizhan, Niazi, Shehrbano Jamali, Nieves, Ana Elsa Nieto, Oberschulte, Julia, Panchelieva, Tsvetelina, Pavlović, Irena, Petrović, Marija B., Popović, Dora, Prinz, Gerhard M., Rachev, Nikolay R., Rocca, Federica, Rosenbaum, R. Shayna, Rusyidi, Binahayati, Say, Nicolas, Schuck, Jakob, Soboleva, Irina, Soysal, Irem, Stablum, Federica, Tang, Xintong, Tavera, Felice, Tebbe, Anna-Lena, Thommesen, Katrine Krabbe, Toscano, Filippo, Tran, Tran, Trinh, Jason, Turati, Alice, Ueda, Kohei, Vakhitov, Volodymyr, Van Reyn, Chiara, Venema, Tina A. G., Verra, Sanne E., Vintr, Jáchym, Vranka, Marek A., Xing, Ke Ying, Xu, Kailin, García-Garzon, Eduardo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.10.2022; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Research
• Subjects: 4014/159; 4014/4013; 4014/477/2811; Asymmetry; Behavioral Sciences; Bias; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Decision making; Delay Discounting; Delayed; Discounting; Economic inequality; Economics and Finance; Expected utility; Experimental Psychology; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Hypotheses; Inequality; Inflation; Life Sciences; Low income groups; Microeconomics; Neurosciences; Personality and Social Psychology
• ISSN: 2397-3374; 2397-3374
• DOI: 10.1038/s41562-022-01392-w

Economic inequality is associated with preferences for smaller, immediate gains over larger, delayed ones. Such temporal discounting may feed into rising global inequality, yet it is unclear whether it is a function of choice preferences or norms, or rather the absence of sufficient resources for immediate needs. It is also not clear whether these reflect true differences in choice patterns between income groups. We tested temporal discounting and five intertemporal choice anomalies using local currencies and value standards in 61 countries ( N  = 13,629). Across a diverse sample, we found consistent, robust rates of choice anomalies. Lower-income groups were not significantly different, but economic inequality and broader financial circumstances were clearly correlated with population choice patterns. Ruggeri et al. find in a study of 61 countries that temporal discounting patterns are globally generalizable. Worse financial environments, greater inequality and high inflation are associated with extreme or inconsistent long-term decisions.