Time & Intertemporal Choice

Many decisions spread their costs and benefits across time. We can spend now or save for later, do the work today or leave it until next week. Those are examples of intertemporal choice.

The topics here include present bias, procrastination, planning errors, and how we imagine our future needs. They help explain why a plan can seem sensible when we make it and much less appealing when it's time to act. Our current mood and circumstances can also affect what we think we'll want later.