Time discounting and pain anticipation: experimental evidence

This paper deals with pain anticipation experienced before medical procedures. Our experimental results show that individuals with lower time discount factors are more prone to suffer pain in advance. We provide a framework to rationalize the connection between pain anticipation and impatience. In this set up, more impatient subjects, who only value very near events, mainly take into account the present negative effects of medical procedures (the costs), whereas more patient individuals have a net positive valuation of medical events,given that they are able to value both the cost incurred now and all the benefits to be accrued in the future.

Special Issue on Behavioral and Experimental Economics