Abstract:
If preferences are strongly separable in the pointwise partition of goods, then demand functions implied by an intransitive preference ordering can also be generated by a transitive (and strongly separable) ordering. Thus, if strong separability is appropriate, intransitivity is not empirically detectable from demand behavior. Two applications are discussed-the "expected-regret" model of choice under uncertainty and the robustness of turnpike propositions of capital theory. Copyright 1987 by Economics Department of the University of Pennsylvania and the Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association.