Review of Economic Studies · 2020 · Victor H. Aguiar、Nail Kashaev
中文摘要
关于消费者行为，一个长期存在的问题是：观测到的个体购买决策是否满足效用最大化理论（UMT）的显示偏好（RP）公理。使用有关价格与消费的调查或实验面板数据集来回答这一问题的研究者，面临着众所周知的测量误差问题。我们表明，在RP方法中忽略测量误差可能导致对UMT的过度拒绝。为解决这一问题，我们提出了一个适用于消费面板数据集的新统计RP框架，允许在存在测量误差的情况下检验UMT。我们的检验适用于所有可由其一阶条件刻画的消费者模型。我们的方法是非参数的，允许偏好存在不受限制的异质性，并且仅要求测量误差满足一个中心化条件。我们开展了两项应用，为UMT提供了新的证据。首先，在消费存在非经典测量误差的情况下，我们在一个调查数据集中发现了支持单人家庭的动态且时间一致的UMT的证据。在第二项应用中，我们利用一个广泛使用的实验数据集，无法拒绝静态UMT；其中，价格的测量误差被假定为实验设计导致的价格误感知的结果。第一项发现与Browning（1989, International Economic Review, 979–992）的确定性RP检验所得结论形成对比。第二项发现逆转了Afriat（1967, International Economic Review, 8, 6–77）和Varian（1982, Econometrica, 945–973）的确定性RP检验所得结论。
Abstract
Abstract A long-standing question about consumer behaviour is whether individuals’ observed purchase decisions satisfy the revealed preference (RP) axioms of the utility maximization theory (UMT). Researchers using survey or experimental panel data sets on prices and consumption to answer this question face the well-known problem of measurement error. We show that ignoring measurement error in the RP approach may lead to overrejection of the UMT. To solve this problem, we propose a new statistical RP framework for consumption panel data sets that allows for testing the UMT in the presence of measurement error. Our test is applicable to all consumer models that can be characterized by their first-order conditions. Our approach is non-parametric, allows for unrestricted heterogeneity in preferences and requires only a centring condition on measurement error. We develop two applications that provide new evidence about the UMT. First, we find support in a survey data set for the dynamic and time-consistent UMT in single-individual households, in the presence of nonclassical measurement error in consumption. In the second application, we cannot reject the static UMT in a widely used experimental data set in which measurement error in prices is assumed to be the result of price misperception due to the experimental design. The first finding stands in contrast to the conclusions drawn from the deterministic RP test of Browning (1989, International Economic Review, 979–992). The second finding reverses the conclusions drawn from the deterministic RP test of Afriat (1967, International Economic Review, 8, 6–77) and Varian (1982, Econometrica, 945–973).