Choice deferral, indecisiveness and preference for flexibility
In a standard model of menu choice, we examine the behavior of an agent who applies the following Cautious Deferral rule: “Whenever in doubt, don't commit; just leave options open.” Our primitive is a complete preference relation ≽ that represents the agent's choice behavior. The agent...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2017
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| _version_ | 1797061896557297664 |
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| author | Pejsachowicz, L Toussaert, S |
| author_facet | Pejsachowicz, L Toussaert, S |
| author_sort | Pejsachowicz, L |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | In a standard model of menu choice, we examine the behavior of an agent who applies the following Cautious Deferral rule: “Whenever in doubt, don't commit; just leave options open.” Our primitive is a complete preference relation ≽ that represents the agent's choice behavior. The agent's indecisiveness is captured by means of a possibly incomplete (but otherwise rational) preference relation . We ask when ≽ can be viewed as a Cautious Deferral completion of some incomplete . Under the independence and continuity assumptions commonly used in the menu choice literature, we find that even the smallest amount of indecisiveness is enough to force ≽, through the above deferral rule, to exhibit preference for flexibility on its entire domain. Thus we highlight a fundamental tension between non-monotonic preferences, such as preferences for self-control, and tendency to defer choice due to indecisiveness. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T20:37:43Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:332f7bfa-20eb-41fb-8b7d-b8eca9f83e71 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T20:37:43Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:332f7bfa-20eb-41fb-8b7d-b8eca9f83e712022-03-26T13:18:49ZChoice deferral, indecisiveness and preference for flexibilityJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:332f7bfa-20eb-41fb-8b7d-b8eca9f83e71EnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordElsevier2017Pejsachowicz, LToussaert, SIn a standard model of menu choice, we examine the behavior of an agent who applies the following Cautious Deferral rule: “Whenever in doubt, don't commit; just leave options open.” Our primitive is a complete preference relation ≽ that represents the agent's choice behavior. The agent's indecisiveness is captured by means of a possibly incomplete (but otherwise rational) preference relation . We ask when ≽ can be viewed as a Cautious Deferral completion of some incomplete . Under the independence and continuity assumptions commonly used in the menu choice literature, we find that even the smallest amount of indecisiveness is enough to force ≽, through the above deferral rule, to exhibit preference for flexibility on its entire domain. Thus we highlight a fundamental tension between non-monotonic preferences, such as preferences for self-control, and tendency to defer choice due to indecisiveness. |
| spellingShingle | Pejsachowicz, L Toussaert, S Choice deferral, indecisiveness and preference for flexibility |
| title | Choice deferral, indecisiveness and preference for flexibility |
| title_full | Choice deferral, indecisiveness and preference for flexibility |
| title_fullStr | Choice deferral, indecisiveness and preference for flexibility |
| title_full_unstemmed | Choice deferral, indecisiveness and preference for flexibility |
| title_short | Choice deferral, indecisiveness and preference for flexibility |
| title_sort | choice deferral indecisiveness and preference for flexibility |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT pejsachowiczl choicedeferralindecisivenessandpreferenceforflexibility AT toussaerts choicedeferralindecisivenessandpreferenceforflexibility |