Revealed Preference Theory, Ordering and the Axiom of Sequential Path Independence.

This paper is concerned with the axiomatic foundation of the theory of choice. Describing a choice procedure which one often observes in real life, the author shows that the requirement of path independence of such a procedure is a necessary and sufficient condition for transitive or full rationalization of a choice function. It is shown that the result holds when rationality is identified with different interpretations of the binary relations of preference revealed by a choice function. It is also shown that a weaker version of our path independence condition is both necessary and sufficient for a rational choice. Copyright 1988 by The Review of Economic Studies Limited.