I enjoyed reading this. Great framework. I studied development economics in graduate school. Your article reminds me of time inconsistent preferences, a type of behaviour seen among borrowers of microfinance companies.

Basically, the person would weight their needs today much more than anything in the future. But the trick is, they do the same tomorrow, and the day after and the day after that. So, to make them repay the loan on time, it is crucial to make them see today that default means a loss of future credit, forever. In a way, this mechanism creates active awareness in the borrower. One of the reasons why microfinance sees such high repayment rates across countries and cultures.