Three essays on intertemporal choices.

Summary This thesis uses the methods of behavioral economics to contribute to the study of intertemporal choice. First, the influence of present bias and consumer naivety on the market power of firms is studied. By giving more market power to firms, present-biased but sophisticated consumers allow firms to increase their profits. Under certain conditions, present bias can also increase social welfare. Individual naivety either does not change equilibrium profit or decreases it and systematically leads to a decrease in social welfare. Second, this thesis measures, through a laboratory experiment, the ability of individuals to anticipate their biases associated with intertemporal choices, the bias for the present or the bias for the future. The biases and their anticipation are measured from the choice of monetary allocations between two dates and the anticipation of these choices. The main result that emerges from this study is that individuals who are biased by the present or by the future tend to underestimate their bias. Finally, this thesis provides a theoretical explanation for the link between risk aversion and the screening decision. If the information is only instrumental, risk aversion increases the probability of screening. However, considering also the emotional value of the information, if the individual is highly averse to the information, if they value a negative emotional response relatively more than a positive one, the more risk averse they are and the less likely they are to choose screening.