Doing It New or Later

摘要

We examine self-control problems-modeled as time-inconsistent, present- biased preferences-in a model where a person must do an activity exactly once. We emphasize two distinctions: Do activities involve immediate costs or imme- Diate rewards, and are people sophisticated or naive about future self-control Problems? Naive people procrastinate immediate-cost activities and proper- te-do too soon-immediate-reward activities.