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Updated: Sep 17, 2025

Measuring Delay Discounting in Humans Using an Adjusting Amount Task
Published on: January 9, 2016
Grit, discounting, & time inconsistency
Christian König-Kersting1, Stefan T Trautmann2,3
1Department of Banking and Finance, University of Innsbruck, Universitätsstraße 15, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
Abstract:
We study the association of the perseverance of effort and the consistency of interests components of the psychological measure of grit with economic measures of impatience and time inconsistency in the general population. We find that impatience is associated with grit through the perseverance of effort component. No association of time inconsistency with grit is found. Predicting participants' financial and health outcomes and behaviors, we find that impatience and grit are predictive for both outcomes, but this is not the case for time inconsistency. Our findings suggest that it can be beneficial for empirical studies of intertemporal decisions to include economic impatience and psychological grit measures.
Supplementary Information:
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11166-025-09456-8.
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