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Cycle conditions for "Luce rationality"

Author

Listed:
  • Jose A. Rodrigues-Neto

    (Research School of Economics, Australian National University)

  • Matthew Ryan

    (Department of Economics and Finance, Auckland University of Technology)

  • James Taylor

    (Research School of Economics, Australian National University)

Abstract

We extend and refine conditions for "Luce rationality" (i.e., the existence of a Luce - or logit - model) in the context of stochastic choice. When choice probabilities satisfy positivity, we show that the cyclical independence (CI) condition of Ahumada and Ulku (2018) and Echenique and Saito (2019) is necessary and sufficient for Luce rationality, even if choice is only observed for a restricted set of menus. We then adapt results from the cycles approach (Rodrigues-Neto, 2009) to the common prior problem (Harsanyi, 1967-1968) to refine the CI condition, by reducing the number of cycle equations that need to be checked. A general algorithm is provided to identify a minimal sufficient set of equations (depending on the collection of menus for which choice is observed). Three cases are discussed in detail: (i) when choice is only observed from binary menus, (ii) when all menus contain a common default; and (iii) when all menus contain an element from a common binary default set. Investigation of case (i) leads to a refinement of the famous product rule.

Suggested Citation

  • Jose A. Rodrigues-Neto & Matthew Ryan & James Taylor, 2024. "Cycle conditions for "Luce rationality"," Working Papers 2024-03, Auckland University of Technology, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:aut:wpaper:2024-03
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chambers, Christopher P. & Turansick, Christopher, 2025. "The limits of identification in discrete choice," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 537-551.
    2. Ahumada, Alonso & Ülkü, Levent, 2018. "Luce rule with limited consideration," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 52-56.
    3. Hellman, Ziv & Samet, Dov, 2012. "How common are common priors?," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 517-525.
    4. José Rodrigues-Neto, 2014. "Monotonic models and cycles," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 43(2), pages 403-413, May.
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    7. Turansick, Christopher, 2022. "Identification in the random utility model," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    8. Rodrigues-Neto, José Alvaro, 2009. "From posteriors to priors via cycles," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 144(2), pages 876-883, March.
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    11. Rodrigues-Neto, José Alvaro, 2012. "The cycles approach," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 207-211.
    12. H.D. Block & Jacob Marschak, 1959. "Random Orderings and Stochastic Theories of Response," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 66, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    13. Fiorini, Luciana C. & Rodrigues-Neto, José A., 2017. "Self-consistency, consistency and cycles in non-partitional knowledge models," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 11-21.
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