Meta-preference, endogenous preference formation and dynamic choice

In a dynamic environment, this paper builds a model of layers of meta-preferences which explains endogenous preference formation as a consequence of subjective judgment by the decision maker’s current self about welfare of her successor self. The model allows us to describe how much the decision maker is willing to pay for investment in her preference formation. The paper provides a recursive utility representation of the layers of meta-preferences and applies it to the problems of investment in time preference and taste.