Risk and time preferences interaction: An experimental measurement

Abstract

We experimentally characterize and measure the interaction between risk and time preferences. Our results indicate that risk and time preferences are intertwined. We find that decision makers are insensitive to time delay for small probabilities of gains, but become progressively more sensitive to time delay as the probability of gain increases. We compare the fit of existing decision models that capture risk and time preferences. Our results indicate that the models which allow for probability-time interaction and capture magnitude effect fit the data better. We also show that accounting for risk-time preferences interaction leads to lower estimated discount rates.