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Home | Events | Motivated Procrastination
Seminar

Motivated Procrastination

  • Series
    CREED Seminars
  • Speaker(s)
    Simeon Schudy (Ulm University, Germany)
  • Field
    Behavioral Economics
  • Location
    University of Amsterdam, Roeterseilandcampus, room E5.22
    Amsterdam
  • Date and time

    May 16, 2024
    16:00 - 17:15

Abstract
Procrastination is often attributed to time-inconsistent preferences but may also arise when individuals derive anticipatory utility from holding optimistic beliefs about their future effort costs. This study provides a rigorous empirical test for this notion of `motivated procrastination'. In a longitudinal experiment over four weeks, individuals must complete a cumbersome task of unknown length. We find that exogenous variation in scope for motivated reasoning results in optimistic beliefs among workers, which causally increase the deferral of work to the future. The roots for biased beliefs stem from motivated memory, such that procrastination may persist even if uncertainty is eventually resolved. Link to paper.