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Parametric Recoverability of Preferences

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  • Halevy, Yoram
  • Persitz, Dotan
  • Zrill, Lanny

Abstract

We bring revealed preference theory to bear on the problem of recovering approximate parametric preferences from consistent and inconsistent consumer choices. The paper investigates two measures for the incompatibility between the revealed preference relation implied by choices and the ranking induced by the proposed parametric preferences. We provide a novel characterization of several well-known inconsistency indices through these incompatibility measures. This allows a researcher to analyze both consistent and inconsistent choices, by decomposing an incompatibility measure into inconsistency and misspecification indices.

Suggested Citation

  • Halevy, Yoram & Persitz, Dotan & Zrill, Lanny, 2012. "Parametric Recoverability of Preferences," Microeconomics.ca working papers yoram_halevy-2012-20, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 28 Aug 2015.
    • Handle: RePEc:ubc:pmicro:yoram_halevy-2012-20
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    File URL: http://faculty.arts.ubc.ca/yhalevy/GARP_HPZ.pdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Revealed Preference; Recoverability of Preferences; GARP; inconsistency; incompatibility;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C00 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - General - - - General
    • D00 - Microeconomics - - General - - - General
    • D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory
    • C18 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Methodolical Issues: General

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