This paper attempts to detect the existence of links in consumption patterns between generations. Preferences over consumption goods may be determined by the preferences of parents and/or by preferences arising from the environment. We propose an indirect methodology to overcome the lack of data...

One problem caused by cycles of choice functions is indecisiveness—decision makers will be paralyzed when they face choice sets with more than two options. We investigate the procedure of “random sampling” where the alternatives are random variables. When comparing any two alternatives,...

In der Mitbestimmungsdebatte der 2000er Jahre ueberraschten die Fuehrungskraefte vieler Grossunternehmen mit positiven aeusserungen zur Unternehmensmitbestimmung. Damit widersprachen sie den Forderungen ihrer Verbaende, die sich dafuer einsetzten, die paritaetische Mitbestimmung abzuschaffen und...

By means of examples that pertain to individual, family, and community contexts, it is shown that migration between locations is compatible with a zero expected net earnings differential between locations. The examples give rise to testable predictions that differ sharply from the predictions...

According to standard rational choice theory, as commonly used in political science and economics, an agent's fundamental preferences are exogenously fixed, and any preference change over decision options is due to Bayesian information learning. Although elegant and parsimonious, such a model...

Why do seemingly irrational superstitions persist? We analyze the widely held belief among Asians that children born in the Year of the dragon are superior. We use pooled cross section data from the U.S. Current Population Survey to show that Asian immigrants to the United States born in the...

Schumpeter’s and Hayek’s view of market coordination as being not about efficiency, but about endogenous change and never-ending discovery has been increasingly recognized even by the mainstream of economics. Underlying this view is the notion of creative learning agents who bring...

This article presents a model of collective choice when group decisions must be justified by arguments from first principles. Individuals may have preferences over both the actions chosen and the arguments used to justify them. Defining a notion of stability in the arguments made and actions...