Earthquakes and Intertemporal Preferences: A Field Study in Italy

Abstract In this paper, we report data drawn from a field study in an Italian region (Campania), where a disastrous earthquake took place in 1980. We rely on subjects’ responses to a questionnaire and on experimental measures. We compare the time preferences in two different samples, the first one constituted by subjects who directly experienced the earthquake and its aftermath effects, and the second one constituted by subjects who lived far away from the earthquake epicentre, but in urban areas with comparable socioeconomic features. Our aim is to test whether there are long run effects of environmental disasters on time preferences. We find significant differences, since individuals living close to the epicentre are more patient than subjects in the alternative sample, also controlling for risk aversion.