Tomorrow's plan meets today's temptation.
Some preferences change when a reward becomes immediate. Planning ahead can favour patience even when the same wait feels unattractive in the moment.
Inside this model
This quasi-hyperbolic model values an immediate reward at its face value and a reward t days away at beta × 0.99^t × amount. Shifting both rewards into the future applies beta to both.
Out in the world
A practical use
A commitment made in advance can help protect a study plan from immediate entertainment. This model lets you inspect the preference reversal behind that intuition.
A useful lens. Not a universal law.
- The weights are chosen assumptions, not a measurement of a person. Real delay choices also depend on trust, need and uncertainty about receiving a reward.
Associated thinkers
Further reading
Explore the original research or the teaching reference behind this experiment.
Nobel committee — Thaler and behavioural economics ↗