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Filtering Down to Size: A Theory of Consideration

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  • Tonna Emenuga

Abstract

The standard rational choice model describes individuals as making choices by selecting the best option from a menu. A wealth of evidence instead suggests that individuals often filter menus into smaller sets - consideration sets - from which choices are then made. I provide a theoretical foundation for this phenomenon, developing a formal language of axioms to characterize how consideration sets are formed from menus. I posit that consideration filters - mappings that translate a menu into one of its subsets - capture this process, and I introduce several properties that consideration filters can have. I then extend this core model to provide linkages with the sequential choice and rational attention literatures. Finally, I explore whether utility representation is feasible under this consideration model, conjecturing necessary and sufficient conditions for consideration-mediated choices to be rationalizable.

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  • Tonna Emenuga, 2023. "Filtering Down to Size: A Theory of Consideration," Papers 2301.05649, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2301.05649
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    References listed on IDEAS

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