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Institute for Economies in Transition, Bank of Finland BOFIT Discussion Papers, Institute for Economies in Transition, Bank of Finland

No 1/2005:
Reforms and Confidence

Pertti Haaparanta () and Jukka Pirttilä ()

Abstract: We examine the choice of economic reforms when policymakers have present-biased preferences and can choose to discard information (maintain confidence) to mitigate distortions from excess discounting. The decisions of policymakers and firms are shown to be interdependent. Confident policymakers carry out welfare-improving reforms more often, which increases the probability that firms will invest in restructuring. While policymakers in different countries can be equally irrational, the consequences of bounded rationality are less severe in economies with beneficial initial conditions. We also examine how present-biased preferences influence the choice between big bang versus gradualist reform strategies. Our findings help explain differences in economic reform success in various countries.

Keywords: policy reform; behavioural economics; hyperbolic discounting; con…dence; gradualism; (follow links to similar papers)

28 pages, April 1, 2005

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This paper is forthcoming as:
Haaparanta, Pertti and Jukka Pirttilä, 'Reforms and Confidence', Journal of Development Economics.



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