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Home | Events Archive | Being Human: Endogenous Growth, Pollution and Natural Resources under Time-Inconsistent Preferences
Seminar

Being Human: Endogenous Growth, Pollution and Natural Resources under Time-Inconsistent Preferences

  • Series
    TI Complexity in Economics Seminars
  • Speaker(s)
    Carles Mañó-Cabello (KU Leuven, Belgium)
  • Field
    Complexity
  • Location
    Tinbergen Institute, Roeterseiland Campus, E5.07
    Amsterdam
  • Date and time

    June 25, 2026
    12:00 - 13:00

Abstract

How does present bias shape economic growth, the creation of ideas, natural resource extraction, and pollution? We develop an endogenous growth model with exhaustible resources and pollution, where households have tendencies to procrastinate. Relative to exponential discounting, which is time-consistent, outcomes depend on the Elasticity of Intertemporal Substitution (EIS) threshold. Contrary to common belief, if the EIS>1, present bias actually raises growth, shifts labor toward R&D, speeds technological innovation, and slows resource extraction; if EIS<1, economic growth falls, but effects on R&D, innovation, extraction, and pollution are theoretically ambiguous. These results nuances the established belief that present bias is always detrimental to economic growth, innovation and environmental sustainability.