A direct method for eliciting time preferences when income and consumption vary over time: Theory, validation and application to job search
We propose a simple method for eliciting individual time preferences without estimating utility functions even in settings where background consumption changes over time. It relies on lottery tickets with high rewards. In a standard intertemporal choice model high rewards decouple lottery choices from variation in background consumption. We validate our elicitation method experimentally on two student samples: one asked in December when their current budget is reduced by extraordinary expenditures for Christmas gifts; the other asked in February when no such extra constraints exist. We illustrate an application of our method with unemployed job seekers which naturally have income/consumption variation.

Please sign up for meetings here: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JCU5l6ELVTtTGnGAvCRudlRHwmLpizIevH_cXtX0lk0/edit#gid=0
Date: 23 February 2021, 16:00 (Tuesday, 6th week, Hilary 2021)
Venue: Held on Zoom
Speaker: Michèle Belot (Cornell University)
Organising department: Department of Economics
Part of: Applied Microeconomics Seminar
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Melis Clark