Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Constant and decreasing timing aversion for saving lives

J Cairns1, M van der Pol

  • 1Health Economics Research Unit, University of Aberdeen, Foresterhill, Scotland.

Social Science & Medicine (1982)
|January 15, 1998
PubMed
Summary

Economists often assume constant timing aversion, but this study finds substantial evidence for decreasing timing aversion when saving lives. The findings challenge the traditional economic model of time preferences.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Australia's temperate highland peat swamps face a death by a thousand longwall cuts.

Journal of environmental management·2025
Same author

Environmental water requirements and climate sensitivity of Australia's upland swamps.

The Science of the total environment·2025
Same author

The Value of Preventative Dental Care: A Discrete-Choice Experiment.

Journal of dental research·2021
Same author

Attendance at a one-off screening clinic for head and neck cancer during Cancer Awareness Week.

The British journal of oral & maxillofacial surgery·2020
Same author

Cerebellar contribution to higher and lower order rule learning and cognitive flexibility in mice.

Neuroscience·2016
Same author

Computational discovery of transcription factors associated with drug response.

The pharmacogenomics journal·2015

Area of Science:

  • Behavioral Economics
  • Decision Science
  • Public Health Policy

Background:

  • Traditional economic models of time preferences assume constant timing aversion.
  • Empirical evidence suggests this assumption may not accurately reflect real-world behavior.
  • Understanding time preferences is crucial for evaluating policies, especially those involving life-saving interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate evidence for constant versus decreasing timing aversion in the context of saving lives.
  • To compare the predictive power of different discounting models: constant, proportional, and hyperbolic.
  • To challenge the prevailing assumption of constant timing aversion in economic decision-making.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized data collected from the general public to empirically test economic models of time preferences.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Focused analysis on scenarios involving the valuation of saving lives.
  • Compared findings against three distinct discounting models: constant, proportional, and hyperbolic.

    • Main Results:

    • The study found substantial empirical evidence supporting decreasing timing aversion.
    • Evidence strongly contradicted the hypothesis of constant timing aversion.
    • The findings indicate that people value saving lives more in the present than predicted by constant discounting.

    Conclusions:

    • The assumption of constant timing aversion in economic models is not supported by evidence when considering life-saving decisions.
    • Decreasing timing aversion appears to be a more accurate representation of how individuals discount future benefits, particularly lives saved.
    • These findings have significant implications for economic modeling and policy-making related to public health and safety.