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Thursday, November 08, 2012

GMO Statistics Part 23. Economists just do not believe people will (or even have the ability to) truthfully report their preferences.

We are all Bayesians now. (on election eve)
Sean J Taylor @ Decomposition also writes:
...When I see poll results, alarm bells go off in my brain. Perhaps it's my training in economics which emphasizes: don't believe what people say, believe what they do. As a field, economists just do not believe people will (or even have the ability to) truthfully report their preferences. It shows up in the field's heavy reliance on behavioral experiments (usually with financial incentives) to measure what people want. This is called the principle of revealed preference: when people make choices they reveal their preferences. It's not really controversial to laypeople, but to economists, it's the only reliable way to elicit this information.



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