SMU SOE Seminar (November 2, 2023): The Consistency of Rationality Measures

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ABSTRACT While rationality has been commonly assumed and measured in various settings, an unexplored question arises regarding the extent to which individuals with high rationality scores in one setting would exhibit high scores in another setting. This study investigates the consistency of rationality measures using revealed preference techniques. We combine budgetary decisions in the lab and food decisions in the field based on scanner data to measure the rationality of individual consumers in a large grocery store. We show that the rationality score for risky or social decisions in the lab is uncorrelated with that of food decisions in the field. By contrast, the rationality score is highly correlated between risky and social decisions in the lab, as well as between food decisions in the lab and in the field. We further show that behavioral factors including purchasing experience, personality traits and cognitive skills may underlie rationality scores across different environments. Click here to view the CV.
		PRESENTER Tracy Xiao Liu Tsinghua University
		RESEARCH FIELDS Experimental Economics Behavioral Economics Market Design Information Economics
		DATE: 2 November 2023 (Thursday)
		TIME: 4pm - 5.30pm
		VENUE: Meeting Room 5.1, Level 5 School of Economics Singapore Management University 90 Stamford Road Singapore 178903