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Rational preference and rationalizable choice

Author

Listed:
  • Simone Cerreia-Vioglio

    (Università Bocconi)

  • Alfio Giarlotta

    (Università di Catania)

  • Salvatore Greco

    (Università di Catania
    University of Portsmouth)

  • Fabio Maccheroni

    (Università Bocconi)

  • Massimo Marinacci

    (Università Bocconi)

Abstract

We study a decision maker characterized by two binary relations. The first reflects his judgments about well-being, his mental preferences. The second describes the decision maker’s choice behavior, his behavioral preferences. We propose axioms that describe a relation between these two preferences, so between mind and behavior, thus disentangling two different perspectives on preferences: a description of tastes (and attitudes) and a way to organize behavioral data. We obtain two representations: one in which mental preferences uniquely determine choice behavior, another for which mental preferences direct behavior but room remains for biases and framing effects. Our results also provide a foundation for a decision analysis procedure called robust ordinal regression and proposed by Greco et al. (Eur J Oper Res 191:416–436, 2008).

Suggested Citation

  • Simone Cerreia-Vioglio & Alfio Giarlotta & Salvatore Greco & Fabio Maccheroni & Massimo Marinacci, 2020. "Rational preference and rationalizable choice," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 69(1), pages 61-105, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joecth:v:69:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1007_s00199-018-1157-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s00199-018-1157-1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Simone Cerreia-Vioglio & Lars Peter Hansen & Fabio Maccheroni & Massimo Marinacci, 2020. "Making Decisions under Model Misspecification," Papers 2008.01071, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2022.
    2. Federica Ceron & Vassili Vergopoulos, 2020. "Recursive objective and subjective multiple priors," Post-Print halshs-02900497, HAL.
    3. Simon Grant & Patricia Rich & Jack Stecher, 2021. "Objective and subjective rationality and decisions with the best and worst case in mind," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 90(3), pages 309-320, May.
    4. Ceron, Federica & Vergopoulos, Vassili, 2022. "Objective rationality and recursive multiple priors," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    5. José Heleno Faro & Ana Santos, 2023. "Updating variational (Bewley) preferences," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 75(1), pages 207-228, January.
    6. Nobuo Koida, 2021. "Intransitive indifference with direction-dependent sensitivity," KIER Working Papers 1061, Kyoto University, Institute of Economic Research.
    7. Echenique, Federico & Miyashita, Masaki & Nakamura, Yuta & Pomatto, Luciano & Vinson, Jamie, 2022. "Twofold multiprior preferences and failures of contingent reasoning," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    8. Federica Ceron & Vassili Vergopoulos, 2020. "Recursive objective and subjective multiple priors," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-02900497, HAL.
    9. Koida, Nobuo, 2022. "Indecisiveness, preference for flexibility, and a unique subjective state space," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    10. Federica Ceron & Vassili Vergopoulos, 2020. "Recursive objective and subjective multiple priors," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 20008, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    11. Federica Ceron & Vassili Vergopoulos, 2020. "Recursive objective and subjective multiple priors," Working Papers halshs-02563318, HAL.
    12. Lorenzo Bastianello & José Heleno Faro & Ana Santos, 2022. "Dynamically consistent objective and subjective rationality," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 74(2), pages 477-504, September.
    13. Federica Ceron & Vassili Vergopoulos, 2020. "Recursive objective and subjective multiple priors," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-02563318, HAL.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mental preferences; Behavioral preferences; Robust ordinal regression;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty

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