Speaker: Associate Professor Xiao LIU (School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University)

Host: Assistant Professor Zhang Anzhou (Li Anmin Economic Research Institute, Liaoning University) Guest

Introduction: Professor Ma Xiangjun (China Economic Research Institute, Liaoning University)

Time: June 16, 2023 (Friday) 14:00-15:30 (Beijing time) Location: Conference Room, First Floor, Wuzhou Garden

Online Venue: Tencent Meeting (Meeting ID: 300 7551 6895)

Language: Mandarin

Abstract：While rationality has been commonly assumed and measured in various settings, an unexplored question arises regarding the extent to which individuals with high rationality scores in one setting would exhibit high scores in another setting. This study investigate the consistency of rationality measures using revealed preference techniques. We combine budgetary decisions in the lab and food decisions in the field based on scanner data to measure the rationality of individual consumers in a large grocery store. We show that the rationality score for risky or social decisions in the lab is uncorrelated with that of food decisions in the field. By contrast, the rationality score is highly correlated between risky and social decisions in the lab, as well as between food decisions in the lab and in the field. We further show that behavioral factors including purchasing experience, personality traits and cognitive skills may underlie rationality scores across different environments.