Modeling Imprecision in Perception, Valuation and Choice

Michael Woodford

No 26258, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Traditional decision theory assumes that people respond to the exact features of the options available to them, but observed behavior seems much less precise. This review considers ways of introducing imprecision into models of economic decision making, and stresses the usefulness of analogies with the way that imprecise perceptual judgments are modeled in psychophysics — the branch of experimental psychology concerned with the quantitative relationship between objective features of an observer's environment and elicited reports about their subjective appearance. It reviews key ideas from psychophysics, provides examples of the kinds of data that motivate them, and proposes lessons for economic modeling. Applications include stochastic choice, choice under risk, decoy effects in marketing, global game models of strategic interaction, and delayed adjustment of prices in response to monetary disturbances.

JEL-codes: C25 C91 D81 D91 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-upt
Note: ME
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Published as Michael Woodford, 2020. "Modeling Imprecision in Perception, Valuation, and Choice," Annual Review of Economics, vol 12(1).

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Journal Article: Modeling Imprecision in Perception, Valuation, and Choice (2020)
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