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The development of consistent decision-making across economic domains

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  • Brocas, Isabelle
  • Carrillo, Juan D.
  • Combs, T. Dalton
  • Kodaverdian, Niree

Abstract

How does value-based reasoning develop and how different this development is from one domain to another? We propose a novel experimental design where children 5 to 11 years old make pairwise choices in the Goods (toys), Social (sharing between self and other), and Risk (lotteries) domains, and we evaluate the consistency of their choices. The development of consistency across domains cannot be fully accounted for by existing developmental paradigms such as transitive reasoning, attentional control and centration. We show that choice consistency is related to self-knowledge of preferences which develops gradually and differentially across domains. The Goods domain offers a developmental template: children become more consistent over time because they learn what they like most and least. In the Social domain, children gradually learn what they like most, while in the Risk domain they gradually learn what they like least. These asymmetric developments give rise to asymmetric patterns of consistency.

Suggested Citation

  • Brocas, Isabelle & Carrillo, Juan D. & Combs, T. Dalton & Kodaverdian, Niree, 2019. "The development of consistent decision-making across economic domains," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 217-240.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:gamebe:v:116:y:2019:i:c:p:217-240
    DOI: 10.1016/j.geb.2019.05.003
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    Cited by:

    1. Oberrauch, Luis & Kaiser, Tim & Seeber, Günther, 2023. "Measuring economic competence of youth with a short scale," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    2. Brocas, Isabelle & Carrillo, Juan D., 2021. "Self-serving, altruistic and spiteful lying in the schoolyard," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 159-175.
    3. Azevedo E Castro De Cardim,Joana & Amaro Da Costa Luz Carneiro,Pedro Manuel & Carvalho,Leandro S. & De Walque,Damien B. C. M., 2022. "Early Education, Preferences, and Decision-Making Abilities," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10187, The World Bank.
    4. Brocas, Isabelle & Carrillo, Juan D., 2020. "The development of social strategic ignorance and other regarding behavior from childhood to adulthood," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    5. Brocas, Isabelle & Carrillo, Juan D., 2020. "Introduction to special issue “Understanding Cognition and Decision Making by Children.” Studying decision-making in children: Challenges and opportunities," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 777-783.
    6. Brocas, Isabelle & Carrillo, Juan D., 2021. "Young children use commodities as an indirect medium of exchange," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 48-61.
    7. Brocas, Isabelle & Carrillo, Juan D., 2020. "The evolution of choice and learning in the two-person beauty contest game from kindergarten to adulthood," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 132-143.
    8. Isabelle Brocas & Juan Carrillo, 2022. "The centipede game at school: does developing backward induction logic drive behavior?," Artefactual Field Experiments 00761, The Field Experiments Website.
    9. Brocas, Isabelle & Carrillo, Juan D., 2022. "Adverse selection and contingent reasoning in preadolescents and teenagers," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 331-351.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Laboratory experiments; Developmental economics; Revealed preferences; Risk; Social preferences;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis

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