Editing Time preference (section)

==Differences in time preference across countries==
Since many of the psychological factors that cause discounting behavior also vary across countries, it makes sense that time preference may not be universal. Due to cultural factors, different countries may view allocations between the present and the future differently.

'''Origins'''

Differences of time preferences across countries have been found in several large-scale studies, in particular the INTRA study<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Wang|first1=Mei|last2=Rieger|first2=Marc Oliver|last3=Hens|first3=Thorsten|date=2016|title=How time preference differ: evidence from 53 countries|journal=Journal of Economic Psychology|volume=52|pages=115–135|doi=10.1016/j.joep.2015.12.001|url=https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/130217/1/How_Time_Preferences_Differ.pdf }}</ref> and the GPS study.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Falk|first1=Armin|last2=Becker|first2=Anke|last3=Dohmen|first3=Thomas|display-authors=et al.|date=2018|title=Global evidence on economic preferences|journal=The Quarterly Journal of Economics|volume=133|issue=4|pages=1645–92|doi=10.1093/qje/qjy013|doi-access=free}}</ref>

[[Oded Galor]] and Omer Ozak explore the roots of observed differences in time preference across nations.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Galor|first1=Oded|last2=Özak|first2=Ömer|date=2016|title=The Agricultural Origins of Time Preference|journal=American Economic Review|volume=106|issue=10|pages=3064–3103|doi=10.1257/aer.20150020|pmid=28781375|pmc=5541952}}</ref> They establish that pre-industrial agricultural characteristics that were favorable to higher return to agricultural investment triggered a process of selection, adaptation, and learning that brought about a higher prevalence of long-term orientation. These agricultural characteristics are associated with contemporary economic and human behavior such as technological adoption, education, saving, and smoking.

The most comprehensive data set of time preferences encompasses 117 countries and is calculated by merging several previous datasets, including the aforementioned INTRA- and GPS-data, but also, e.g., survey questions from the [[World Value Survey]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Rieger|first1=Marc|last2=Wang|first2=Mei|last3=Hens|first3=Thorsten|date=2021|title=Universal Time Preference|journal=PLOS ONE|volume=16|issue=2|pages=e0245692|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0245692|pmid=33596234 |pmc=7888607 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

=== Current cross cultural studies ===
Many cross-cultural studies look at the differences between two or three countries. However, some have gone further. A study on 53 counties found significant differences in time preference by country.<ref name=":03">{{Cite journal |last1=Wang |first1=Mei |last2=Rieger |first2=Marc Oliver |last3=Hens |first3=Thorsten |date=2016-02-01 |title=How time preferences differ: Evidence from 53 countries |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167487015001439 |journal=Journal of Economic Psychology |volume=52 |pages=115–135 |doi=10.1016/j.joep.2015.12.001 |issn=0167-4870|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

=== Cultural differences in predictors of time preferences ===
There are many cultural differences that influence perceptions in general. Some aspects of culture which may be relevant to time preference include individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and long term orientation. Countries with higher uncertainty avoidance have higher present bias, meaning they discount the future more steeply. On the other hand, countries higher in individualism and long term orientation discount less steeply.<ref name=":03" />