Discussion Papers no. 604

Self-delusion in the pursuit of happiness

The paper explores how repeated revisions of consumption plans increase long-run utility. If agents value present anticipations of future consumption, some revisions may be viewed as a benign form of self-delusion. We consider a minimal generalization of the Samuelson discounted utility model to allow for utility linked to next period consumption. Agents are assumed to vary with respect to their sophistication. Different environments likely to facilitate repeated revisions are also considered.

Om publikasjonen

Tittel

Self-delusion in the pursuit of happiness

Ansvarlig

Dag Einar Sommervoll

Serie og -nummer

Discussion Papers no. 604

Utgiver

Statistics Norway

Emne

Discussion Papers

Antall sider

23

Målform

Engelsk

Om Discussion Papers

Discussion papers comprise research papers intended for international journals and books. A preprint of a Discussion Paper may be longer and more elaborate than a standard journal article as it may include intermediate calculations, background material etc.

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