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Nontransitive Preferences and Stochastic Rationalizability: A Behavioral Equivalence

Mogens Fosgerau, John Rehbeck

Research output: Working paperPreprint

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Abstract

Nontransitive choices have long been an area of curiosity within economics. However, determining whether nontransitive choices represent an individual's preference is a difficult task since choice data is inherently stochastic. This paper shows that behavior from nontransitive preferences under a monotonicity assumption is equivalent to a transitive stochastic choice model. In particular, nontransitive preferences are regularly interpreted as a strength of preference, so we assume alternatives are chosen proportionally to the nontransitive preference. One implication of this result is that one cannot distinguish ``complementarity in attention" and ``complementarity in demand."
Original languageEnglish
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 28 Apr 2023

Keywords

  • econ.TH

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