Bitte verwenden Sie diesen Link, um diese Publikation zu zitieren, oder auf sie als Internetquelle zu verweisen: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/197215 
Erscheinungsjahr: 
2019
Schriftenreihe/Nr.: 
Working Paper No. 292
Versionsangabe: 
Revised version, April 2019
Verlag: 
University of Zurich, Department of Economics, Zurich
Zusammenfassung: 
Differences in cognitive sophistication and effort are at the root of behavioral heterogeneity in economics. To explain this heterogeneity, behavioral models assume that certain choices indicate higher cognitive effort. A fundamental problem with this approach is that observing a choice does not reveal how the choice is made, and hence choice data is insufficient to establish the link between cognitive effort and behavior. We show that deliberation times provide the missing link, in the form of an individually-measurable correlate of cognitive effort. We present a model of heterogeneous cognitive depth, incorporating stylized facts from the psychophysical literature, which makes predictions on the relation between choices, cognitive effort, incentives, and deliberation times. We confirm the predicted relations experimentally in different kinds of games. However, we also show that imputing cognitive depth from choices alone can lead to erroneous conclusions when the features leading to iterative thinking are not salient.
Schlagwörter: 
heterogeneity
iterative reasoning
cognitive sophistication
deliberation times
depth of reasoning
cognitive effort
JEL: 
C72
C91
D80
D91
Persistent Identifier der Erstveröffentlichung: 
Dokumentart: 
Working Paper

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