Waiting to Choose: The Role of Deliberation in Intertemporal Choice

We study the impact of deliberation on intertemporal choices. Using multiple experiments, including a field in Democratic Republic Congo, we show that introduction waiting periods—a policy temporally separates information about choices from themselves—causes substantially less myopic decisions. These results cannot be captured by models exponential discounting nor present bias. Comparing effects periods to making planned over future time periods, former has larger reducing myopia. Our highlight role decision-making and have implications for intervention design. (JEL C93, D12, D83, D91, O12)