Do self-control preferences help explain the puzzling behavior of asset prices

In the context of a simple asset-pricing environment, we study the ability of self-control preferences to account for the stock-price volatility, risk-free-rate and equity-premium puzzles. Using a fullinformation estimation procedure, we estimate the presence of a quantitatively small self-control effect in the data. Moreover, with results obtained using CRRA preferences serving as a benchmark, we find that the adoption of self-control preferences makes only a marginal contribution towards a resolution of these puzzles. r 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.