tidsinkonsekvens

Tidsinkonsekvens, a Swedish term, translates to "time inconsistency" in English and refers to a situation where a decision-maker's preferences or plans change over time, leading to a deviation from their original intentions. This phenomenon is particularly relevant in economics and psychology.

In economics, time inconsistency arises when an individual's preferences between two future points in time are reversed after a passage of time. For example, someone might plan to start a diet on Monday but then decide to postpone it to Tuesday, and then to Wednesday. This occurs because the immediate gratification of eating something unhealthy outweighs the future benefit of being on a diet, even though the future benefit remains desirable. This can lead to suboptimal outcomes, such as undersaving for retirement or failing to achieve long-term health goals.

Psychological research often explains time inconsistency through concepts like hyperbolic discounting, where people tend to heavily discount future rewards compared to immediate ones. This psychological bias contributes to procrastination and impulsive behavior. Various strategies, such as commitment devices (e.g., pre-committing to a plan, like setting up automatic savings transfers), are often employed to combat the effects of time inconsistency. The recognition of time inconsistency is crucial for understanding individual decision-making and for designing effective policies and interventions that encourage long-term well-being.