This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Klochko, M. A. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Time Preference and Learning Versus Selection

A Case Study of Ukrainian Students

Ohio State University, klochko.1{at}osu.edu

With few exceptions, economic theory assumes that people’s valuations of the future - the discount applied to the future as opposed to the present - are fixed and exogenously set. The relevance of this assumption derives from the fact that this parameter of individual preference is critical in determining the likelihood that a person will engage in cooperative action, including the likelihood that they will abide by democratic norms and participate constructively in the development of efficient and competitive markets. Using a sample of Ukrainian youth - those who have emigrated to the West to complete their studies as compared to those who have remained in Ukraine - I question the validity of this assumption. Although the data reveals that those students who travel to the West are an unrepresentative sample of Ukraine’s student population generally in terms of the time discount they apply to the future, the data also suggest that the discount they apply to the future changes as a function of their length of stay in the West.

Key Words: learning • selection • socialization • time discounting • Ukrainian students

Rationality and Society, Vol. 18, No. 3, 305-331 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1043463106066376


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?