Ejercicio 2 (f-h) - Decisió econòmica racional i biaixos · Economia de L'empresa UPF 2016

f. Social psychologists ran an experiment in an all-you-can-eat buffet. After paying the standard flat entrance fee, a randomly selected group received an unexpected partial refund, while the control group received no refund. According to standard rational economic cost-benefit analysis:

Solución: 4. There will be no difference in consumption between the cohorts, because sunk expenditures must not affect forward-looking decisions.

g. A consumer intends to purchase a television and visits an electronics retailer. During the time spent browsing, the consumer foregoes an opportunity to perform freelance work providing 50 units of net utility, or going to a park providing 20 units of net utility. If the consumer chooses to spend the time searching for the television, this search activity:

Solución: 3. Carries a cost of 50 utility units for the consumer.

h. A rational economic agent:

Solución: 3. Acquires additional data up to the exact point where the marginal benefit of an improved choice equals the marginal cost of gathering information.