Time Preferences and Lunar New Year: An Experiment

Abstract

We conduct an experiment to examine how the attitude toward time preference changed when there was a time-related occasion, specifically the Lunar New Year. We anticipated that individuals would be more patient as measured by a battery of questions after the New Year. However, we find that individuals only appear more patient when those questions pose the amount of time they have to wait in year increments rather than other units of time. More experimentation is necessary to identify the peculiarities of framing questions around this “New Years Effect.”