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Economics and Measurement: New measures to model decision making

Author

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  • Ingvild Almås
  • Orazio Attanasio
  • Pamela Jervis

Abstract

Most empirical work in economics has considered only a narrow set of measures as meaningful and useful to characterize individual behavior, a restriction justified by the difficulties in collecting a wider set. However, this approach often forces the use of strong assumptions to estimate the parameters that inform individual behavior and identify causal links. In this paper, we argue that a more flexible and broader approach to measurement could be extremely useful and allow the estimation of richer and more realistic models that rest on weaker identifying assumptions. We argue that the design of measurement tools should interact with, and depend on, the models economists use. Measurement is not a substitute for rigorous theory, it is an important complement to it, and should be developed in parallel to it. We illustrate these arguments with a model of parental behavior estimated on pilot data that combines conventional measures with novel ones.

Suggested Citation

  • Ingvild Almås & Orazio Attanasio & Pamela Jervis, 2023. "Economics and Measurement: New measures to model decision making," NBER Working Papers 30839, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30839
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Romuald Meango & Esther Mirjam Girsberger, 2023. "Identification of Ex ante Returns Using Elicited Choice Probabilities: an Application to Preferences for Public-sector Jobs," Papers 2303.03009, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2024.
    2. Joshua B. Gilbert & Zachary Himmelsbach & James Soland & Mridul Joshi & Benjamin W. Domingue, 2024. "Estimating Heterogeneous Treatment Effects with Item-Level Outcome Data: Insights from Item Response Theory," Papers 2405.00161, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2024.
    3. Carvajal, Daniel & Franco, Catalina & Isaksson, Siri, 2024. "Will Artificial Intelligence Get in the Way of Achieving Gender Equality?," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 3/2024, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics, revised 31 Oct 2024.
    4. Caplin, Andrew & Gregory, Victoria & Lee, Eungik & Leth-Petersen, Søren & Sæverud, Johan, 2023. "Subjective Earnings Risk," CEPR Discussion Papers 17987, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
      • Andrew Caplin & Victoria Gregory & Eungik Lee & Søren Leth-Petersen & Johan Sæverud, 2023. "Subjective Earnings Risk," NBER Working Papers 31019, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
      • Andrew Caplin & Victoria Gregory & Eungik Lee & Soeren Leth-Petersen & Johan Saeverud, 2023. "Subjective Earnings Risk," CEBI working paper series 23-01, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. The Center for Economic Behavior and Inequality (CEBI).
      • Andrew Caplin & Victoria Gregory & Eungik Lee & Soren Leth-Petersen & Johan Sæverud, 2023. "Subjective Earnings Risk," Working Papers 2023-003, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, revised 04 Jan 2024.
    5. Romuald Meango, 2023. "Using Probabilistic Stated Preference Analyses to Understand Actual Choices," Papers 2307.13966, arXiv.org.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • A1 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics
    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior

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