Rational status quo

Autor: Fan Wang, Itzhak Gilboa
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Economic Theory. 181:289-308
ISSN: 0022-0531
Popis: Decision makers often stick to a status quo without explicitly reconsidering it. Yet, their observed choices might be compatible with a fully rational model. We ask when such a rationalization is possible. We assume as observable only the choice of sticking to the status quo vs. changing it, as a function of a database of cases. We state conditions on the set of databases that would make the decision maker change the status quo, which are equivalent to the following representation: the decision maker entertains a set of theories, of which one is that her current choice is the best; she is inert as long as that theory beats any alternative theory according to a maximum likelihood criterion.
Databáze: OpenAIRE