Inconsistent and Lexicographic Choices in Stated Preference Analysis

Jan Rouwendal and Adriana Blaeij

No 04-038/3, Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers from Tinbergen Institute

Abstract: In stated choice (SC) data inconsistent and lexicographic choice behavior is often observed. It is sometimes recommended to remove data with these characteristics from the analysis. In this paper we reconsider this recommendation. In our data many respondents have inconsistent choice patterns, which appear to be due to incidental mistakes. Moreover, a large number of the consistent respondents have lexicographic choice patterns. We show that the logit model, which is the most popular tool for analyzing SP data, is compatible with inconsistent and seemingly lexicographic choice behavior and that it offers precise predictions about the occurrence of such choices. In the data at our disposal the actual number of respondents who made different choices in two identical choice situations is substantially lower than that predicted by the model, whereas the number of respondents with lexicographic answers is much larger than predicted. The logit model is then ada! pted in various ways to bring it in better agreement with the facts. In particular, we introduce an effect of remembering the earlier choice when the same situation recurs, the presence of latent classes of lexicographic respondents and the presence of heterogeneity among respondents.

Keywords: stated preference analysis; choice experiments; inconsistent choices; lexicographic choices; value of time; value of a statistical life (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C25 C93 Q51 R41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004-04-05
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://papers.tinbergen.nl/04038.pdf (application/pdf)

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:tin:wpaper:20040038

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers from Tinbergen Institute Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Tinbergen Office +31 (0)10-4088900 ().