The Impact of Gender on Time Perception and Intertemporal Choice

Abstract

Intertemporal choice has been drawing attention in econophysics and neuroeconomics. Recent studies in neuroeconomics show nonlinearity in psychological time perception can explain hyperbolic discounting. In this paper, we experimentally tested the gender difference in the subjective values of intertemporal monetary rewards and that of subjective time perception. Our results show: (1) male participants have a shorter time perception regardless of the length of delay; (2)male participant's subjective value of future monetary reward is less than that of female's. This finding provides another evidence that anomalies in intertemporal discounting is due to psychological perception of delay or time-interval.