Individual Choices in a Non-Consequentialist Framework: A Procedural Approach

21 Pages Posted: 23 Mar 2006

See all articles by Wulf Gaertner

Wulf Gaertner

Universität Osnabrück

Yongsheng Xu

Georgia State University - Andrew Young School of Policy Studies

Date Written: July 2005

Abstract

Non-consequentialist features of a choice procedure may matter. The procedural aspect behind availability of alternatives may induce an individual to abstain from choosing any element at all so that the choice set becomes empty. In this paper, the concept of choice is related to procedural aspects of different kinds. Availability of objects, different aspects of production as such and shrinkages from an originally given set of options to various of its subsets are considered. Rationalizability of choice in such contexts is studied axiomatically. We relate our conditions to the standard consistency conditions from traditional choice theory.

Keywords: Procedural Aspects of Choice, Choice Functions, Rationalizability

JEL Classification: D62, D63, D71

Suggested Citation

Gaertner, Wulf and Xu, Yongsheng, Individual Choices in a Non-Consequentialist Framework: A Procedural Approach (July 2005). Andrew Young School of Policy Studies Research Paper Series No. 06-08, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=892626 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.892626

Wulf Gaertner (Contact Author)

Universität Osnabrück ( email )

Department of Economics
D-49069 Osnabrueck
Germany

Yongsheng Xu

Georgia State University - Andrew Young School of Policy Studies ( email )

Department of Economics
35 Broad Street, 6th Floor Department of Economics
Atlanta, GA 30303-3083
United States