Why Are Children Impatient? Evolutionary Selection of Preferences

Junji Kageyama

Department of Economics, Meikai University, Urayasu, Japan.

DOI: 10.4236/tel.2013.35A3003                

Abstract

This study aims to explain why children are impatient. Using a biological framework called the life history theory, the study investigates the evolutionary root of time preference, paying particular attention to childhood. The results show that the biologically endowed rate of time preference is equal to the mortality rate not only in adulthood but also in childhood, reflecting the change in the biological value of survival. Mortality is the baseline for time preference through the entire course of life. These results are consistent with the findings in previous empirical and experimental studies that the discount rate is U-shaped in age, and account for why young children, in particular, are impatient. In addition, the difference in time preference between adults and children provides a biological explanation for the parent-offspring conflict, in which the higher discount rate among children causes parents and their children to disagree over intertemporal allocation of resources in collective decision-making particularly within the household.

Keywords

Time Preference; Value of Survival; Life History Theory; Mortality; Parent-Offspring Conflict

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	A. Dauphin, A. R. El Lahga, B. Fortin and G. Lacroix, “Are Children Decision-Makers within the Household?” Economic Journal, Vol. 121, No. 553, 2011, pp. 871-903. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0297.2010.02404.x
[2]	G. S. Becker, “A Theory of Social Interactions,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 82, No. 6, 1974, pp. 1063-1093. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/260265
[3]	T. C. Bergstrom, “A Fresh Look at the Rotten Kid Theorem—And Other Household Mysteries,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 97, No. 5, 1989, pp. 1138-1159. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/261646
[4]	E. Bettinger and R. Slonim, “Patience among Children,” Journal of Public Economics, Vol. 91, No. 1-2, 2007, pp. 343-363. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2006.05.010
[5]	L. Steinberg, S. Graham, L. O’Brien, J. Woolard, E. Cauffman and M. Banich, “Age Differences in Future Orientation and Delay Discounting,” Child Development, Vol. 80, No. 1, 2009, pp. 28-44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01244.x
[6]	U. Teuscher and S. H. Mitchell, “Relation between Time Perspective and Delay Discounting: A Literature Review,” Psychological Record, Vol. 61, No. 4, 2011, pp. 613-632.
[7]	I. Hansson and C. Stuart, “Malthusian Selection of Preferences,” American Economic Review, Vol. 80, No. 3, 1990, pp. 529-544.
[8]	A. R. Rogers, “Evolution of Time Preference by Natural Selection,” American Economic Review, Vol. 84, No. 3, 1994, pp. 460-481.
[9]	P. D. Sozou and R. M. Seymour, “Augmented Discounting: Interaction between Ageing and Time-Preference Behaviour,” Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Vol. 270, No. 1519, 2003, pp. 1047-1053. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2003.2344
[10]	C. Y. C. Chu, H. K. Chien and R. D. Lee, “The Evolutionary Theory of Time Preference and Intergenerational Transfers,” Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Vol. 76, No. 3, 2010, pp. 451-464. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2010.09.011
[11]	A. J. Robson and L. Samuelson, “The Evolution of Time Preference with Aggregate Uncertainty,” American Economic Review, Vol. 99, No. 5, 2009, pp. 1925-1953. http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.99.5.1925
[12]	P. D. Sozou, “Individual and Social Discounting in a Viscous Population,” Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Vol. 276, 1669, 2009, pp. 2955-2962. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2009.0401
[13]	J. Kageyama, “The Intertemporal Allocation of Consumption, Time Preference, and Life-History Strategies,” Journal of Bioeconomics, Vol. 13, No. 2, 2011, pp. 79-95. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10818-011-9104-2
[14]	B. Chowdhry, “Possibility of Dying as a Unified Explanation of Why We Discount the Future, Get Weaker with Age, and Display Risk-Aversion,” Economic Inquiry, Vol. 49, No. 4, 2011, pp. 1098-1103. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-7295.2009.00271.x
[15]	A. K. Acharya and R. J. Balvers, “Time Preference and Life Cycle Consumption with Endogenous Survival,” Economic Inquiry, Vol. 42, No. 4, 2004, pp. 667-678. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ei/cbh088
[16]	A. J. Robson, B. Szentes and E. Iantchev, “The Evolutionary Basis of Time Preference: Intergenerational Transfers and Sex,” American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, Vol. 4, No. 4, 2012, pp. 172-201. http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/mic.4.4.172
[17]	G. S. Becker and C. B. Mulligan, “The Endogenous Determination of Time Preference,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 112, No. 3, 1997, pp. 729-758. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/003355397555334
[18]	S. C. Stearns, “The Evolution of Life Histories,” Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1992.
[19]	N. Perrin and R. M. Sibly, “Dynamic Models of Energy Allocation and Investment,” Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, Vol. 24, 1993, pp. 379-410. http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.es.24.110193.002115
[20]	H. M. Taylor, R. S. Gourley, C. E. Lawrence and R. S. Kaplan, “Natural Selection of Life History Attributes: An Analytical Approach,” Theoretical Population Biology, Vol. 5, No. 1, 1974, pp. 104-122. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0040-5809(74)90053-7
[21]	P. Wiessner, “Leveling the Hunter: Constraints on the Status Quest in Foraging Societies,” In: P. Wiessner and W. Schiefenhovel, Eds., Food and the Status Quest: An Interdisciplinary Perspective, Berghahn Books, Oxford, 1996, pp. 171-191.
[22]	P. Wiessner, “Hunting, Healing, and hxaro Exchange: A Long-Term Perspective on! Kung (ju/'hoansi) Large-Game Hunting,” Evolution and Human Behavior, Vol. 23, No. 6, 2002, pp. 407-436. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1090-5138(02)00096-X
[23]	M. Gurven, W. Allen-Arave, K. Hill and M. Hurtado, “‘It’s a Wonderful Life’: Signaling Generosity among the Ache of Paraguay,” Evolution and Human Behavior, Vol. 21, No. 4, 2000, pp. 263-282. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1090-5138(00)00032-5
[24]	H. E. Ryder and G. M. Heal, “Optimal Growth with Intertemporally Dependent Preferences,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 40, No. 1, 1973, pp. 1-33. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2296736
[25]	Y. K. Ng, “The Paradox of the Adventurous Young and the Cautious Old: Natural Selection vs. Rational Calculation,” Journal of Theoretical Biology, Vol. 153, No. 3, 1991, pp. 339-352. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0022-5193(05)80574-0
[26]	K. Hill and A. M. Hurtado, “Ache Life History,” Aldine De Gruyter, New York, 1996.
[27]	K. Hill, A. M. Hurtado and R. S. Walker, “High Adult Mortality among Hiwi Hunter-Gatherers: Implications for Human Evolution,” Journal of Human Evolution, Vol. 52, No. 4, 2007, pp. 443-454. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2006.11.003
[28]	P. A. Trostel and G. A. Taylor, “A Theory of Time Preference,” Economic Inquiry, Vol. 39, No. 3, 2001, pp. 379-395. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ei/39.3.379
[29]	D. Read and N. L. Read, “Time Discounting over the Lifespan,” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Vol. 94, No. 1, 2004, pp. 22-32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2004.01.002
[30]	R. L. Trivers, “Parent-Offspring Conflict,” American Zoologist, Vol. 14, No. 1, 1974, pp. 249-264.
[31]	M. E. Yaari, “Uncertain Lifetime, Life Insurance, and the Theory of the Consumer,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 32, No. 2, 1965, pp. 137-150. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2296058
[32]	T. B. L. Kirkwood, “Evolution of Ageing,” Nature, Vol. 270, No. 5635, 1977, pp. 301-304. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/270301a0
[33]	T. B. L. Kirkwood and M. R. Rose, “Evolution of Senescence: Late Survival Sacrificed for Reproduction,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Vol. 332, No. 1262, 1991, pp. 15-24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1991.0028
[34]	F. P. Ramsey, “A Mathematical Theory of Saving,” Economic Journal, Vol. 38, No. 152, 1928, pp. 543-559. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2224098