Reactance: a Freedom-Based Theory of Choice

Niels Boissonnet () and Alexis Ghersengorin ()
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Niels Boissonnet: Universität Bielefeld = Bielefeld University
Alexis Ghersengorin: PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement

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Abstract: A decision exhibits reactance if it is not directly welfare maximizing but represents a way to protest against a threat to the decision maker's freedom of choice. We provide a first axiomatic revealed preference characterization of this phenomenon, which yields necessary and sufficient conditions for deviations from rational choice to be ascribed to reactance. These conditions are shown to characterize a representation of preferences underlying choices consistent with reactance. We next look at two applications that have been (informally) associated with reactance in the psychology literature and demonstrate that reactance can imply the emergence of conspiracy theories and a backlash of integration policy targeted towards immigrants. Finally, we derive the resulting preference ordering over opportunity sets for agents whose final choices are consistent with reactance.

Keywords: revealed preferences; freedom; reactance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-05-19
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mic and nep-upt
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-03672722v1
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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