Minimal rationalizations

Igor Kopylov ()
Additional contact information
Igor Kopylov: University of California, Irvine

Economic Theory, 2022, vol. 73, issue 4, No 2, 859-879

Abstract: Abstract I refine the multi-utility model and identify the minimal number W of total orders that is sufficient to rationalize a path independent choice function. This identification invokes the well-known pigeonhole principle: any dataset of size $$W+1$$ W + 1 that is rationalized by W rankings must contain at least two distinct observations where the same ranking is maximized. In general, the index W can be huge even for reasonable choice functions, such as top-ten rules. If W is constrained, then minimal rationalizations can be found in polynomial time via an explicit focal algorithm. The axiom of Expansion (Sen’s $$\gamma $$ γ ) describes a special case where the index W must equal the capacity—the largest number of elements that may be selected together in a menu.

Keywords: Multi-utility model; Path independence; Focal algorithm; Heterogeneity; Pigeonhole principle (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D01 D81 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00199-021-01345-w Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:joecth:v:73:y:2022:i:4:d:10.1007_s00199-021-01345-w

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... eory/journal/199/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s00199-021-01345-w

Access Statistics for this article

Economic Theory is currently edited by Nichoals Yanneils

More articles in Economic Theory from Springer, Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().