Grit, discounting, & time inconsistency

TL;DR

This study explores how traits like grit and impatience relate to decision-making over time in the general population.

Contribution

The study reveals that perseverance of effort in grit is linked to economic impatience but not to time inconsistency.

Findings

Impatience is associated with the perseverance of effort component of grit.

Time inconsistency is not associated with grit.

Impatience and grit predict financial and health outcomes, but time inconsistency does not.

Abstract

We study the association of the perseverance of effort and the consistency of interests components of the psychological measure of grit with economic measures of impatience and time inconsistency in the general population. We find that impatience is associated with grit through the perseverance of effort component. No association of time inconsistency with grit is found. Predicting participants’ financial and health outcomes and behaviors, we find that impatience and grit are predictive for both outcomes, but this is not the case for time inconsistency. Our findings suggest that it can be beneficial for empirical studies of intertemporal decisions to include economic impatience and psychological grit measures.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11166-025-09456-8.

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