Modeling the Modeler: A Normative Theory of Experimental Design

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Payró, Fernando, Piermont, Evan
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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author Payró, Fernando
Piermont, Evan
author_facet Payró, Fernando
Piermont, Evan
contents We consider an analyst whose goal is to identify a subject's utility function through revealed preference analysis. We argue the analyst's preference about which experiments to run should adhere to three normative principles: The first, Structural Invariance, requires that the value of a choice experiment only depends on what the experiment may potentially reveal. The second, Identification Separability, demands that the value of identification is independent of what would have been counterfactually identified had the subject had a different utility. Finally, Information Monotonicity asks that more informative experiments are preferred. We provide a representation theorem, showing that these three principles characterize Expected Identification Value maximization, a functional form that unifies several theories of experimental design. We also study several special cases and discuss potential applications.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_11625
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Modeling the Modeler: A Normative Theory of Experimental Design
Payró, Fernando
Piermont, Evan
Theoretical Economics
We consider an analyst whose goal is to identify a subject's utility function through revealed preference analysis. We argue the analyst's preference about which experiments to run should adhere to three normative principles: The first, Structural Invariance, requires that the value of a choice experiment only depends on what the experiment may potentially reveal. The second, Identification Separability, demands that the value of identification is independent of what would have been counterfactually identified had the subject had a different utility. Finally, Information Monotonicity asks that more informative experiments are preferred. We provide a representation theorem, showing that these three principles characterize Expected Identification Value maximization, a functional form that unifies several theories of experimental design. We also study several special cases and discuss potential applications.
title Modeling the Modeler: A Normative Theory of Experimental Design
topic Theoretical Economics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.11625