ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the extensive research literature on time preference, including how time preferences shape health behaviors. It covers the developments in understanding the psychological bases of time preferences, and discusses the implications for fostering more far-sighted health choices and behaviors. The literature on time discounting has demonstrated consistent relationships between time preferences and health behaviors and outcomes. When people fail to consider and incorporate the future consequences of their current actions into their behavior, they are less likely to take the steps necessary for optimal future health. The chapter suggests how people make intertemporal tradeoffs involving their health parallels, but is distinct from, how they make financial intertemporal tradeoffs. The findings from research suggest that the relationship between time discounting and how people make decisions involving their health may be more complicated than impatient people consistently making short-sighted health decisions.
