Moreover, contrary to current economic thinking, they use decreasing
utility rates of discount for the longer periods in their calculations.
They are not as time-consistent as economists would have them be.
They value the present and near future more than they do the far
future. In other words, they take their mortality into account.
This is supported by a paper titled "Doing it Now or Later", published
in the March 1999 issue of the American Economic Review. In it the
authors suggest that over-indulgers and procrastinators alike indeed
place undue emphasis on the near future. Self-awareness surprisingly
only exacerbates the situation: "why resist? I have a self-control
problem. Better indulge a little now than a lot later."
But a closer look exposes an underlying conviction of perdurability.
The authors distinguish sophisticates from naifs. Both seem to
subscribe to immortality. The sophisticate refrains from
procrastinating because he believes that he will live to pay the price.
Naifs procrastinate because they believe that they will live to perform
the task later. They also try to delay overindulgence because they
assume that they will live to enjoy the benefits.
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