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Decision-making Strategies and Performance among Seniors

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Abstract

Using paper and pencil experiments administered in senior centers, we examine decision-making performance in multi-attribute decision problems. We find a significant decline in performance with age due to reduced reliance on common heuristics among our oldest subjects. Subjects in their early sixties incorporate a wide array of heuristics, septuagenarians employ progressively fewer strategies, and subjects in their 80s make nearly random selections. However, we find that increasing the number of options in a decision problem increases the number of heuristics brought to the task. This challenges the choice overload view that people give up when confronted with too much choice.

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  • Sudipta Sarangi & Tibor Besedes & Cary Deck & Mikhael Shor, 2011. "Decision-making Strategies and Performance among Seniors," Departmental Working Papers 2011-08, Department of Economics, Louisiana State University.
    • Handle: RePEc:lsu:lsuwpp:2011-08
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    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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