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A Million Answers to Twenty Questions: Choosing by Checklist

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Author Info
Michael Mandler (Royal Holloway, University of London)
Paola Manzini (Queen Mary, University of London and IZA)
Marco Mariotti (Queen Mary, University of London)

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Abstract

Many decision models in marketing science and psychology assume that a consumer chooses by proceeding sequentially through a checklist of desirable properties. These models are contrasted to the utility maximization model of rationality in economics. We show on the contrary that the two approaches are nearly equivalent. Moreover, the length of the shortest checklist as a proportion of the number of an agent's indifference classes shrinks to 0 (at an exponential rate) as the number of indifference classes increases. Checklists therefore provide a rapid procedural basis for utility maximization.

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Paper provided by Queen Mary, University of London, Department of Economics in its series Working Papers with number 622.

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Date of creation: Mar 2008
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Handle: RePEc:qmw:qmwecw:wp622

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Related research
Keywords: Bounded rationality; Procedural rationality; Utility maximization; Choice behavior;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D01 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Rubinstein, Ariel, 1996. "Why Are Certain Properties of Binary Relations Relatively More Common in Natural Language?," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(2), pages 343-55, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Paola Manzini & Marco Mariotti, 2007. "Sequentially Rationalizable Choice," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(5), pages 1824-1839, December. [Downloadable!]
  3. Rubinstein, Ariel & Salant, Yuval, 2006. "A model of choice from lists," Theoretical Economics, Society for Economic Theory, vol. 1(1), pages 3-17, March. [Downloadable!]
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Dulleck, Uwe & Hackl, Franz & Weiss, Bernhard & Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf, 2008. "Buying Online: Sequential Decision Making by Shopbot Visitors," Economics Series 225, Institute for Advanced Studies. [Downloadable!]
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  2. B. Douglas Bernheim, 2008. "Behavioral Welfare Economics," NBER Working Papers 14622, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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