3 Being rested/tired/fatigued are not common concepts in the vocabulary of an economist The closest economic concept is effort, generally treated in terms of preferences and incentives –e.g.: P/A literature But little attention to the fact that, if exhausted, incentives can be not enough –Like a biker climbing a mountain …
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Intertemporal Decision-Making with Endogenous Attention Costs
DSE - University of Bologna FUR XII Davide Dragone Luiss, Rome
June, 26 th 2006 2 What are rest-breaks? What are they for?
Rest-breaks useful for managing the accumulation of fatigue due to
the exertion of prolonged effort over time What kind of fatigue?
Induced by paying attention to complex cognitive activities 3 Being
rested/tired/fatigued are not common concepts in the vocabulary of
an economist The closest economic concept is effort, generally
treated in terms of preferences and incentives e.g.: P/A literature
But little attention to the fact that, if exhausted, incentives can
be not enough Like a biker climbing a mountain 4 It is not just a
matter of preferences but of constraints on the set of possible
paths of behavior, endogenously given by previous actions. 5 Goal
of the paper To present a simple theoretical model to study the
role of the (endogenous) condition of fatigue on the behavior of an
individual that exerts prolonged effort over time Only one
precedent (Ozdenoren, Salant, Silverman, 2006): on self-control 2
extensions: Environment: Multi-tasking and cognitive (over)load
Preferences: on the condition of rest/fatigue 6 The Model An
individual must exert a prolonged attention effort. Exerting effort
has two effects: Positive and direct on utility Negative and
indirect: it induces fatigue If exhausted, the individual cannot
exert effort anymore The problem is solved by an external agency 7
The problem x(t): attention effort, at time t s(t) : rest
condition, at time t s o : initial rest condition sbar : holiday
rest condition f(x) : depletion, as a function of the exerted
effort 8 Basic model: Qualitative results 9 Extension 1:
Multi-tasking 10 Multi-tasking (continued) 11 Extension 2:
Preference for rest 12 To sum up A model to focus on the
accumulation of fatigue when a prolonged effort over time is
required Rest/fatigue can constrain the set of feasible behavioral
paths, beyond motivations and preferences Not an alternative
approach, but complementary to the usual economic approach to
intertemporal decision-making 13 Extensions To test the predictions
for the multi- tasking and overload extension To introduce goals to
be achieved within a given time interval To introduce habits:
cycles
