Models of Revealed Preference
Title
Models of Revealed Preference
Author
Adams, Abi
Crawford, Ian
Research Area
Cognition and Emotions
Topic
Decision Making
Abstract
Revealed preference theory is concerned with what we can learn about the process by which economic agents make decisions using simply the features of the world that we observe: choices. Different economic models place different restrictions on these choices. The revealed preference literature derives these restrictions and then puts them to use. Research effort has recently been extended far beyond the axiomatic characterization of neoclassical models of choice to consider data‐consistency and preference‐recoverability for a wide class of models. This essay places these recent developments in context, giving a brief introduction to the revealed preference approach before elaborating on recent research that has dramatically extended the domain and ambition of the discipline. We address the widening of the scope of revealed preference theory to new classes of models, which have introduced novel techniques, and challenges, to the discipline, before charting emerging trends within the areas of identification and power, which have arisen as revealed preference has emerged as an empirical method.