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arXiv · 2301.05649

Filtering Down to Size: A Theory of Consideration

Tonna Emenuga
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Abstract

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.

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Tonna Emenuga. 2023-01-13. Filtering Down to Size: A Theory of Consideration. https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.05649

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