2023/01/13 by Tonna Emenuga, Emenuga, Tonna
Decision Sciences · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Neuroscience · #Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics #Economic and Environmental Valuation #FOS: Economics and business #Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies #Theoretical Economics (econ.TH)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2301.05649
openalex publication_date 2023/01/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
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.