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Free keywords:
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JEL:
C72 - Noncooperative Games
JEL:
C73 - Stochastic and Dynamic Games; Evolutionary Games; Repeated Games
JEL:
D03 - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
JEL:
D91 - Intertemporal Household Choice; Life Cycle Models and Saving
Abstract:
This paper develops a strategic model of procrastination in which present-biased agents prefer to do an onerous task in the company of someone else. This turns their decision of when to do the task into a procrastination game – a dynamic coordination game between present-biased players. The model characterises the conditions under which interaction mitigates or exacerbates procrastination. Surprisingly, a procrastinator matched with a worse procrastinator may do her task earlier than she otherwise would: she wants to avoid the increased temptation that her peer's company would generate. Procrastinators can thus use bad company as a commitment device to mitigate their self-control problem. Principals can reduce procrastination by matching procrastinators with each other, but the efficient matching may not be stable.
