 Where do preferences come from?Franz Dietrich and Christian List Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) from HAL Abstract: Rational choice theory analyzes how an agent can rationally act, given his or her preferences, but says little about where those preferences come from. Preferences are usually assumed to be fixed and exogenously given. Building on related work on reasons and rational choice (Dietrich and List forthcoming), we describe a framework for conceptualizing preference formation and preference change. In our model, an agent's preferences are based on certain 'motivationally salient' properties of the alternatives over which the preferences are held. Preferences may change as new properties of the alternatives become salient or previously salient properties cease to be salient. Our approach captures endogenous preferences in various contexts and helps to illuminate the distinction between formal and substantive concepts of rationality, as well as the role of perception in rational choice. Keywords: preference formation; preference change; properties; motivations; reasons; endogenous preferences; formal versus substantive rationality; conceptualization; perception (search for similar items in EconPapers) Published in International Journal of Game Theory, 2013, pp.613-637. ⟨10.1007/s00182-012-0333-y⟩ There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it. Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00978007 DOI: 10.1007/s00182-012-0333-y Access Statistics for this paper More papers in Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) from HAL |
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