2.Willpower and Personal Rules

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2.Willpower and Personal Rules

• Roland Bénabou and Jean Tirole
• 2001

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Introduction
2. Willpower and Personal Rules (Bénabou et al.
2001)

• Tendency to succumb to short-run impulses at the
  expense of long-run interest
• Time-inconsistent preferences overweight present
  relative to future
• Unable to commit to optimal course
• External commiment
• Internal commitment (promises to oneself)

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Introduction
2. Willpower and Personal Rules (Bénabou et al.
2001)

• How to achieve self-control through adoption of
  personal rules?
• Theory based on self-reputation over ones
  willpower
• Mechanism transforms lapses into precedents that
  undermine further self-restraint
• Imperfect recall of past motives and feelings
  leads to self-monitoring and infering revealed
  preferences from past actions

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The Model Decisions and Payoffs
2. Willpower and Personal Rules (Bénabou et al.
2001)

• 3 possible outcomes
• NW ( a, 0 0 )
• W G ( 0, 0 b )
• W P ( 0,-c B )

No-WillpowerActivity
NW
a
Subperiod I
Subperiod II
time
Give Up
G
WillpowerActivity
0
b
W
Persevere
0
P
-c
B
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Preferences State-Dependent Willpower
2. Willpower and Personal Rules (Bénabou et al.
2001)

• Time-inconsistent (quasi-hyperbolic) preferences

No-WillpowerActivity
NW
a

• Intensity of temptation
• stage-contingent
• imperfectly known

Subperiod I
Subperiod II
time
Give Up
G
WillpowerActivity
0
b
W
Persevere
0
P
-c
B
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Preferences Intertemporal conflict
2. Willpower and Personal Rules (Bénabou et al.
2001)
Subperiod II Give up, whenever
Subperiod I W,P, unless
Subperiod I
Subperiod II
time
Give Up
G
0
b
Persevere
P
-c
B
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Preferences Intertemporal conflict
2. Willpower and Personal Rules (Bénabou et al.
2001)
No-WillpowerActivity
Period 1 W, unless a gt expected
benefits
Period 2 NW, when gt expected
benefits
NW
a
Subperiod I
time
Inferences about it from the past
WillpowerActivity
W
Uncertainty about degree of willpower
0
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Information Experience and Memory
2. Willpower and Personal Rules (Bénabou et al.
2001)

• Updating belief about willpower
• 2 problems
• attribution
• self-serving bias

time
G
Subperiod II Give up, whenever
signal from chosen action
P
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Mechanism
2. Willpower and Personal Rules (Bénabou et al.
2001)
Choice reflects the strength of current
temptation, his private information about his
true type and the public information about his
reputation
No-WillpowerActivity
NW
a
Individuals choice reflects his current belief
about his own willpower
Subperiod I
Subperiod II
time
Give Up
G
WillpowerActivity
Updating his beliefs according to rational
inference
0
b
W
Persevere
0
P
-c
B
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Self-reputation Concerns Main Results
2. Willpower and Personal Rules (Bénabou et al.
2001)

• 1)extend of self-control achieved increases with
  the individuals confidence in his own willpower
• 2)self-restraint is greater when situations are
  repeated and lapses more likely to be brought
  back
• 3)forced choices inhibit development of
  self-confidence and autonomy

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Personal Rules
2. Willpower and Personal Rules (Bénabou et al.
2001)

• Flexibility or rigidity of personal rules
• Allowance for excuses or special circumstances
• Regulation Overregulation
• Beneficial Bright line rules and harmful
  behavior

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Conclusion
2. Willpower and Personal Rules (Bénabou et al.
2001)

• How can self-imposed rules constrain the
  individuals behavior?
• Theory of personal rules based on self-reputation
• Imperfect knowledge of ones willpower
• Lapses interpreted as precedents
• Fear of creating precedents and losing faith
• Incentive that helps counter the traditional bias
  towards instant gratification

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