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A Rationalization of the Weak Axiom of Revealed Preference

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  • Aguiar, Victor H.

    (Department of Economics)

  • Hjertstrand, Per

    (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN))

  • Serrano, Roberto

    (Department of Economics)

Abstract

We offer a rationalization of the weak axiom of revealed preference (WARP) and of the weak generalized axiom of revealed preference (WGARP) for both finite and infinite data sets of consumer choice. We call it maximin rationalization, in which each pairwise choice is associated with a local utility function. We develop its associated revealed-preference theory. We show that preference recoverability and welfare analysis à la Varian (1982) may not be informative enough when the weak axiom holds but when consumers are not utility maximizers. In addition, we show that counterfactual analysis may fail with WGARP/WARP. We clarify the reasons for these failures and provide new informative bounds for the consumer’s true preferences, as well as a new way to perform counterfactual analysis. Finally, by adding the Gorman form and quasilinearity restrictions to the “local” utility functions, we obtain new characterizations of the choices of the Shafer (1974) nontransitive consumer and those choices satisfying the law of demand.

Suggested Citation

  • Aguiar, Victor H. & Hjertstrand, Per & Serrano, Roberto, 2020. "A Rationalization of the Weak Axiom of Revealed Preference," Working Paper Series 1321, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1321
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Madhav Chandrasekher & Mira Frick & Ryota Iijima & Yves Le Yaouanq, 2022. "Dual‐Self Representations of Ambiguity Preferences," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 90(3), pages 1029-1061, May.
    2. Schlee, Edward E. & Ali Khan, M., 2023. "Money-metrics in local welfare analysis: Pareto improvements and equity considerations," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    3. Roy Allen & John Rehbeck, 2020. "Counterfactual and Welfare Analysis with an Approximate Model," Papers 2009.03379, arXiv.org.
    4. Alvaro Sandroni & Leo Katz, 2024. "The leveling axiom," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 96(1), pages 135-152, February.
    5. Marcos Demetry & Per Hjertstrand & Matthew Polisson, 2022. "Testing axioms of revealed preference in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 22(2), pages 319-343, June.
    6. Wilfried Youmbi, 2024. "Nonparametric Analysis of Random Utility Models Robust to Nontransitive Preferences," Papers 2406.13969, arXiv.org.
    7. Marcos Demetry & Per Hjertstrand, 2023. "Consistent subsets: Computing the Houtman–Maks index in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 23(2), pages 578-588, June.
    8. Pawel Dziewulski, 2021. "A comprehensive revealed preference approach to approximate utility maximisation," Working Paper Series 0621, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Consumer choice; Revealed preference; Maximin rationalization; Nonconvex preferences; Reference-dependent utility; Law of demand;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C60 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - General
    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General

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