The Sign Effect in Past and Future Discounting

• In Event: 6.6 Time, Discounting, and the Consumer Experience

Short Abstract

We compare the extent to which people discount positive and negative events in the future and in the past. We find that the tendency to discount gains more than losses (i.e., the sign effect) emerges for future, but not past, outcomes, and is mediated by contemplation utility.

Authors

• Sarah Molouki, University of Chicago, USA

• David Hardisty, University of British Columbia, Canada

• Eugene M. Caruso, University of Chicago, USA