Abstract: In this paper, we conduct a high stake experiment in rural China to investigate the determinants of individual and joint decisions regarding intertemporal choices, and estimate the relative influence of spouses on the joint decisions. We use the Convex Time Budget experimental method to elicit individual and joint decisions on how much money to allocate to an early and a later date. We find that the rates of return have significant effects on the decisions, yet both individual and joint decisions exhibit present-biased time preferences.

Abstract: We examine whether and to what extent joint choices are more or less patient and time - consistent than individual choices in households. We use data from an artefactual field experiment where both individual and joint time preferences were elicited. We find a substantial shift from individual to joint household decisions. Interestingly, joint decisions do not only generate beneficial shifts, i.e., patient and time - consistent shifts. On the contrary, a majority of the observed shifts are impatient and time - inconsistent shifts.

We use city-level data from the daily air pollution index and meteorological data on wind movement to see whether air pollution in China spills over from one city to another.

We use county-level data on crop yields and cropland to estimate the potential biomass supply from crop residues in China. We find that China can potentially produce about 250 million dry metric tons of crop residues per year when biomass prices are greater than $100 per metric ton. We also find that rice straw is expected to account for about 47% of total residue production, while corn stover (residue) can contribute 28% to total biomass production in China and wheat straw can contribute 25%.