Reconciling Introspective Utility With Revealed Preference: Experimental Arguments Based on Prospect Theory

A. Mohammed*, C. Barrios, P.P. Wakker

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

In an experiment, choice-based (revealed-preference) utility of money is derived from choices under risk, and choiceless (non-revealed-preference) utility from introspective strength-of-preference judgments. The well-known inconsistencies of risky utility under expected utility are resolved under prospect theory, yielding one consistent cardinal utility index for risky choice. Remarkably, however, this cardinal index also agrees well with the choiceless utilities, suggesting a relation between a choice-based and a choiceless concept. Such a relation implies that introspective judgments can provide useful data for economics, and can reinforce the revealed-preference paradigm. This finding sheds new light on the classical debate on ordinal versus cardinal utility.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)356-378
Number of pages43
JournalJournal of Econometrics
Volume138
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2007

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