Preferences, rational choices and economic valuation: Some empirical tests

Bénédicte Rulleau and Jeanne Dachary-Bernard

Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), 2012, vol. 41, issue 2, 198-206

Abstract: This study focuses on the respondent rationality hypothesis, usually assumed to be true in Discrete Choice Experiments. We examine lexicographic preferences, the influence of consistency, and the role of task complexity in the individual choice process. To this end, we carry out rationality tests in a survey on forest recreation. Results show that choice set orderings do not impact on choice probability. If a violation of continuity or consistency axioms does impact on choice probability, the Willingness-To-Pay estimators calculated using the total sample and the sub-samples of “irrational” respondents are not significantly different. This serves as a basis for discussing the traditional concept of rationality.

Keywords: Individual preferences; Discrete choice experiment; Rationality tests; Forest recreation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C9 D01 D12 Q26 Q51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:soceco:v:41:y:2012:i:2:p:198-206

DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2011.08.030

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