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Motivated naivete

Author

Listed:
  • Tang, Rui
  • Zhang, Mu

Abstract

We study a decision maker's ex-ante choices over menus. The decision maker has in mind a set of possible future preferences that can be justified, for instance, by her past behavior, and she naively evaluates each menu according to the best option in the menu among those that can be rationalized by her future preferences. We provide a characterization for this menu preference, discuss the uniqueness of its representation, and propose a comparative measure of the decision maker's naivete. We apply our model to study two behavioral biases: naivete about present bias and the disjunction effect.

Suggested Citation

  • Tang, Rui & Zhang, Mu, 2023. "Motivated naivete," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jetheo:v:209:y:2023:i:c:s0022053123000327
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2023.105636
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Motivated reasoning; Naivete; Menu preference; Present bias; Disjunction effect;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D01 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making

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