Chapter The Price of Uncertainty in Present-Biased Planning

The tendency to overestimate immediate utility is a common cognitive bias. As a result people behave inconsistently over time and fail to reach long-term goals. Behavioral economics tries to help affected individuals by implementing external incentives. However, designing robust incentives is oft...

תיאור מלא

שמור ב:
מידע ביבליוגרפי
Main Authors: Albers, Susanne, Kraft, Dennis
פורמט: Online
שפה:אנגלית
יצא לאור: Springer Nature 2021
נושאים:
גישה מקוונת:644832
תגים: הוספת תג
אין תגיות, היה/י הראשונ/ה לתייג את הרשומה!
_version_ 1869517156258938880
author Albers, Susanne
Kraft, Dennis
author_browse Albers, Susanne
Kraft, Dennis
author_facet Albers, Susanne
Kraft, Dennis
author_sort Albers, Susanne
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description The tendency to overestimate immediate utility is a common cognitive bias. As a result people behave inconsistently over time and fail to reach long-term goals. Behavioral economics tries to help affected individuals by implementing external incentives. However, designing robust incentives is often difficult due to imperfect knowledge of the parameter β ∈ (0, 1] quantifying a person’s present bias. Using the graphical model of Kleinberg and Oren [8], we approach this problem from an algorithmic perspective. Based on the assumption that the only information about β is its membership in some set B ⊂ (0, 1], we distinguish between two models of uncertainty: one in which β is fixed and one in which it varies over time. As our main result we show that the conceptual loss of effi- ciency incurred by incentives in the form of penalty fees is at most 2 in the former and 1 + max B/ min B in the latter model. We also give asymptotically matching lower bounds and approximation algorithms.
format Online
id doab-20.500.12854ir-31947
institution Directory of Open Access Books
language eng
publishDate 2021
publishDateRange 2021
publishDateSort 2021
publisher Springer Nature
publisherStr Springer Nature
record_format ojs
spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-319472025-05-08T09:43:52Z Chapter The Price of Uncertainty in Present-Biased Planning Albers, Susanne Kraft, Dennis behavioral economics incentive design heterogeneous agents approximation algorithms variable present bias penalty fees behavioral economics incentive design heterogeneous agents approximation algorithms variable present bias penalty fees Alice and Bob Decision problem Graph theory Graphical model NP (complexity) Time complexity Upper and lower bounds The tendency to overestimate immediate utility is a common cognitive bias. As a result people behave inconsistently over time and fail to reach long-term goals. Behavioral economics tries to help affected individuals by implementing external incentives. However, designing robust incentives is often difficult due to imperfect knowledge of the parameter β ∈ (0, 1] quantifying a person’s present bias. Using the graphical model of Kleinberg and Oren [8], we approach this problem from an algorithmic perspective. Based on the assumption that the only information about β is its membership in some set B ⊂ (0, 1], we distinguish between two models of uncertainty: one in which β is fixed and one in which it varies over time. As our main result we show that the conceptual loss of effi- ciency incurred by incentives in the form of penalty fees is at most 2 in the former and 1 + max B/ min B in the latter model. We also give asymptotically matching lower bounds and approximation algorithms. 2021-02-10T12:58:18Z 2020-03-18 13:36:15 2020-04-01T13:03:04Z 2018-03-03 23:55 2020-03-18 13:36:15 2020-04-01T13:03:04Z 2018-02-01 23:55:55 2020-03-18 13:36:15 2020-04-01T13:03:04Z 2017 chapter 644832 OCN: 1076689890 http://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/30615 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/31947 eng open access image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg Attribution 4.0 International Attribution 4.0 International Attribution 4.0 International Attribution 4.0 International Attribution 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/30615/1/644832.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/30615/1/644832.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/30615/1/644832.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/30615/1/644832.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/30615/1/644832.pdf Springer Nature 10.1007/978-3-319-71924-5_23 10.1007/978-3-319-71924-5_23 9fa3421d-f917-4153-b9ab-fc337c396b5a Web and Internet Economics H2020 European Research Council 178e65b9-dd53-4922-b85c-0aaa74fce079 European Research Council (ERC) EU collection 15 691672 H2020 open access
spellingShingle behavioral economics
incentive design
heterogeneous agents
approximation algorithms
variable present bias
penalty fees
behavioral economics
incentive design
heterogeneous agents
approximation algorithms
variable present bias
penalty fees
Alice and Bob
Decision problem
Graph theory
Graphical model
NP (complexity)
Time complexity
Upper and lower bounds
Albers, Susanne
Kraft, Dennis
Chapter The Price of Uncertainty in Present-Biased Planning
title Chapter The Price of Uncertainty in Present-Biased Planning
title_full Chapter The Price of Uncertainty in Present-Biased Planning
title_fullStr Chapter The Price of Uncertainty in Present-Biased Planning
title_full_unstemmed Chapter The Price of Uncertainty in Present-Biased Planning
title_short Chapter The Price of Uncertainty in Present-Biased Planning
title_sort chapter the price of uncertainty in present biased planning
topic behavioral economics
incentive design
heterogeneous agents
approximation algorithms
variable present bias
penalty fees
behavioral economics
incentive design
heterogeneous agents
approximation algorithms
variable present bias
penalty fees
Alice and Bob
Decision problem
Graph theory
Graphical model
NP (complexity)
Time complexity
Upper and lower bounds
topic_facet behavioral economics
incentive design
heterogeneous agents
approximation algorithms
variable present bias
penalty fees
behavioral economics
incentive design
heterogeneous agents
approximation algorithms
variable present bias
penalty fees
Alice and Bob
Decision problem
Graph theory
Graphical model
NP (complexity)
Time complexity
Upper and lower bounds
url 644832
work_keys_str_mv AT alberssusanne chapterthepriceofuncertaintyinpresentbiasedplanning
AT kraftdennis chapterthepriceofuncertaintyinpresentbiasedplanning