Measuring Impatience: Elicited Discount Rates and the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale

Munich Personal RePEc Archive (MPRA) Paper No. 1524, posted 07. November 2007

AUTHOR:
Robert J. Oxoby
Kendra N. McLeish

ABSTRACT:

We explore intertemporal decision making to test the extent to which elicited discount rates and a self-reported scale of impatience measure the same behavioral characteristic. We conduct experiments in which we elicit discount rates using monetary rewards and a self-reported measure of impatience (the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, BIS-11). Although researchers have utilized these measures to infer aspects of intertemporal preferences, we find no significant correlation between discount rates and the BIS-11 except in the special case where discount rates were elicited after individuals were primed with negative feedback.

KEYWORDS: intertemporal choice, impulsiveness, discounting, experiments

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