Rational status quo

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Gilboa, Itzhak; Wang, Fan
• 署名单位: Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) Paris; Tel Aviv University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC THEORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0531
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2019.02.009
• 发表日期: 2019
• 页码: 289-308
• 关键词: Case-based decisions; status quo; System 1; System 2; inertia

摘要

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. (C) 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.