The effect of military service on soldiers’ time preferences — Evidence from Israel

Autor: Eyal Lahav, Uri Benzion, Tal Shavit
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2011
Předmět:
Zdroj: Judgment and Decision Making, Vol 6, Pp 130-138 (2011)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 19302975
1930-2975
DOI: 10.1017/S1930297500004071
Popis: The current field study compares the time preferences of young adults of similar ages but in two very different environments, one more dangerous and uncertain than the other. Soldiers, college students and a control group of teenagers answered questionnaires about their time preferences. During mandatory service, soldiers live in a violent atmosphere where they face great uncertainty about the near future and high risk of mortality (measured by probability of survival). University students and teenagers live in much calmer environment and are tested for performance only periodically. The soldier-subjects show relatively high subjective discount rates when compared to the other two groups. We suggest that the higher subjective discount rate among soldiers can be the result of high perceived risk in the army as an institution, or higher mortality risk.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals