Afriat's theorem for general budget sets

Afriat proved the equivalence of a variant of the strong axiom of revealed preference and the existence of a solution to a set of linear inequalities. From this solution he constructed a utility function rationalizing the choices of a competitive consumer. We extend Afriat's theorem to a class...

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Veröffentlicht in:Journal of economic theory 2009, Vol.144 (1), p.135-145
Hauptverfasser: Forges, Françoise, Minelli, Enrico
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:Afriat proved the equivalence of a variant of the strong axiom of revealed preference and the existence of a solution to a set of linear inequalities. From this solution he constructed a utility function rationalizing the choices of a competitive consumer. We extend Afriat's theorem to a class of nonlinear, nonconvex budget sets. We thereby obtain testable implications of rational behavior for a wide class of economic environments, and a constructive method to derive individual preferences from observed choices. We also show that by increasing in a regular way the number of observed choices from our class of budget sets one can fully identify the underlying preference relation.
ISSN:0022-0531
1095-7235
DOI:10.1016/j.jet.2008.03.002