Step 1: measurement of individual indifference values
A choice-based elicitation procedure was performed to obtain the subjects’ time preferences for money and health. The health and money profiles covered the next 20-year time interval. The time interval was divided into 7 time points: tThe elicitation procedure began at time point tNext, the elicitation of the remaining 4 time points was examined. The order of elicitation at time points tBecause the remaining intervals were narrowed to allow eliciting new values, some subjects did not complete all questions. The subjects who always selected all first-period options or all later-period options were categorized as extremely impatient or extremely patient, respectively. Those subjects who preferred the first-period option (tThe subjects with extreme preferences were excluded from the measurements of cumulative weighting functions and discount rates. However, all subjects were included in the analysis of the relationships between discounting and socio-demographic characteristics using the Tobit model.