arXiv subjects

Angelo Enrico Petralia

Publications and source records attributed to Angelo Enrico Petralia.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Harmful Random Utility Models

In many choice problems the evaluation of alternatives is determined by a mediation between opposite judgments. In these situations the decision maker (DM) may not maximize her true preference, but some compromise on it, in which the first i options are rated according to the adversarial ranking. Compromise-based Random Utility Models (compromise-based RUMs), which are RUMs whose support is limited to the compromises on some preference, naturally represent the consequences of the trade-off between antithetical criteria on choices. Compromise-based RUMs are characterized by the existence of a linear order that allows the experimenter to recover choice probabilities from selections over the ground set, or, alternatively, to verify three behavioral axioms. Necessary and sufficient conditions for a full identification of the DM's preference and her randomization over compromises are singled out. In all but two cases, there is a unique justification by compromise of data. Finally, a degree of compromise, which measures the extent of the mediation embraced by the DM in her decision, is characterized.

econ.TH↗

arXiv2026

A measure of choice irrationality based on opposite judgements

In many choice settings the decision maker (DM) adopts a criterion which is a mediation between her preference, and its opposite. According to such compromise, the first i alternatives on top of the DM's taste are moved, in reverse order, to the bottom. This pattern allows to define the compromise-based degree of irrationality, which quantifies the extent of the mediation embraced by the DM in her choice. Necessary and sufficient conditions characterizing this index are singled out. I investigate non rationalizable choices that display the lowest degree of irrationality, and I fully identify the preferences that explain the DM's picks by a minimal mediation between opposite judgments. These datasets account for some well known selection biases, such as second-best procedures, and the handicapped avoidance. I offer a simple characterization of the choice behavior that exhibits the most severe compromise, and I show that this subclass comprises almost all choices. Finally, some alternative measures of compromise are characterized, and compared with the score previously determined.

econ.TH↗

arXiv2026

The Effects of Social Pressure on Fundamental Choices: Indecisiveness and Deferral

In mainstream neoclassical economics, utility maximization is the only engine of individual action, and the other or the social, if it is modeled for decisions deemed fundamental, it is done as a tacit externality parameter affecting an agent's maximized payoff. And even when hitched to a social reference point, a fully decisive and immediate response is invariably assumed. In this paper, we propose a non-standard articulation of the trade-off between personal utility and social distance, one motivated by experimental evidence from psychology, management science, and economics. Our approach deconstructs non-recurrent consumer choice to two stages: a non-decisive first stage in which a binary relation, called one-many ordering, yields an interval, the consideration set, to which the deferred choice is confined; a decisive second stage in which the distance from the average social choice, and future social expectations, are taken into account in present utility. Finally, we embed this indecisive consumer in an exploratory game-theoretic setting, and show that indecisiveness and choice deferral may cause social loss.

econ.TH↗