Afriat's theorem for general budget sets

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Economic Theory
Year: 2009
Volume: 144
Issue: 1
Pages: 135-145

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

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.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:jetheo:v:144:y:2009:i:1:p:135-145
Journal Field
Theory
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25