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Exploring Choice Errors in Children

Author

Listed:
  • Daniele Caliari
  • Valentino Dardanoni
  • Carla Guerriero
  • Paola Manzini
  • Marco Mariotti

Abstract

We study experimentally how children’s ability to avoid choice errors develops over time, focusing on both riskless and risky decisions among primary school children. We identify four types of rationality violations: cycles and menu effects in the riskless domain; and dominance and framing effects compatible with correlation neglect in the risky domain. We find that types of violations are correlated within domains but broadly independent across domains. To interpret our results we build and estimate a structural model of limited consideration. We identify an index of error avoidance and study how it develops with age and socioeconomic background, providing a new tool to understand the development of choice errors.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniele Caliari & Valentino Dardanoni & Carla Guerriero & Paola Manzini & Marco Mariotti, 2026. "Exploring Choice Errors in Children," Bristol Economics Discussion Papers 26/823, School of Economics, University of Bristol, UK.
    • Handle: RePEc:bri:uobdis:26/823
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    References listed on IDEAS

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