TY  - JOUR
AU  - Reuben,Ernesto
AU  - Sapienza,Paola
AU  - Zingales,Luigi
TI  - Procrastination and Impatience
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 13713
PY  - 2007
Y2  - December 2007
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13713
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13713.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Ernesto Reuben
3022 Broadway
Uris Hall
New York, NY 10027
E-Mail: ereuben@columbia.edu

Paola Sapienza
Kellogg School of Management
Northwestern University
2001 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208
Tel: 847/491-7436
Fax: 847/491-5719
E-Mail: paola-sapienza@northwestern.edu

Luigi Zingales
Booth School of Business
The University of Chicago
5807 S. Woodlawn Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
Tel: 773/702-3196
Fax: 773/834-2081
E-Mail: luigi.zingales@ChicagoBooth.edu
AB  - There is a large body of literature documenting both a preference for immediacy and a tendency to procrastinate. O'Donoghue and Rabin (1999a,b, 2001) and Choi et al. (2005) model these behaviors as the two faces of the same phenomenon. In this paper, we use a combination of lab, field, and survey evidence to study whether these two types of behavior are indeed linked. To measure immediacy we had subjects choose between a series of smaller-sooner and larger-later rewards. Both rewards were paid with a check in order to control for transaction costs. To measure procrastination we use the subjects' actual behavior in cashing the check and completing tasks on time. Our results lend support to the hypothesis that subjects who have a preference for immediacy are indeed more likely to procrastinate.
ER  -