Change is linked with the passage of time.  Action aims at change.  In turn, time passes.  Therefore, action is inseparable from time.  There is no such thing as an action absent of time.  People don’t just prefer more goods to less, but goods sooner than later.  The concepts of sooner and later are always linked with action.  Action is always directed at the future.  It must be involved when you’re planning for a better future.

The individual is always subject to the passage of time.  We all have a limited amount of time on this earth.   Time is scarce and an economic good.  Time must be economized.  Even Adam and Eve must decide what they must do first on a time scale.  Two things can’t be done at once.  They are done at different times even if they are done at fractions of a second apart.  There is no such thing as doing things simultaneously.

Man aims at the shortest period of production.  Action doesn’t deliberately aim at longer periods of production.  “This is a universal fact of time preference.”  All things being equal, the less waiting time, the better.  There is interest charged on loans.  This is because a good now is worth more than later.  Future goods are discounted to the present.  Thus, we get the discount rate.  It can be thought of as a reward for waiting.

All goods are consumed with the passage of time.  All things being equal, an actor will prefer a machine that lasts ten years opposed to eight.  The longer lasting machine will provide more total service.  This might not be the case if the shorter lasting machine is cheaper or produces the consumer goods at a quicker rate.  That must be considered by the actor.  However, it is always the case if all else is equal with the two machines.

If man can’t wait for the reward, he has a high time preference.  If man can wait for the reward, he has a low time preference.  The high time preference individual has a strong desire to consume goods earlier than the low time preference individual.  Time is valued subjectively.  There is no universal time preference.  Some have shorter and others longer.  This is the actor’s values.  It’s not society or any other’s values.

References

Ludwig von Mises; Human Action

Murray Rothbard; Man, Economy, and State