The researchers also learned that the expecation of a surplus for a given resource was larger for time than money.
The authors suspect that may be because each day is different whereas money is relatively unchanging. Zauberman and Lynch write, "Barring some change in employment or family status, supply and demand of money are relatively constant over time, and people are aware of that. Compared with demands on one's time, money needs in the future are relatively predictable from money needs today."
Study participants believed that time and money would be more plentiful a month from now than today. The underlying psychological principle called "delay discounting" is when people diminish the importance of future rewards.
Zauberman and Lynch continue, "People are consistently surprised to be so busy today. Lacking knowledge of what specific tasks will compete for their time in the future, they act as if new demands will not inevitably arise that are as pressing as those faced today."
In other words, people tend to idealize the future, whereas the problems of today are readily accessible.
The researchers also found that participants who believed they would have excess time in the future but not money were likely to discount time investments more than money investments. The reverse was true for participants who expected to have more money than time.
Furthermore, the researchers suggest that it is difficult to learn that our predictions of future time are inaccurate. They write, "It is difficult to learn from feedback that time will not be more abundant in the future. Specific activities vary from day to day, so [people] do not learn from feedback that, in aggregate, total demands are similar."
