Reason-Based Choice: A Bargaining Rationale for the Attraction and Compromise Effects

This paper proposes a model of boundedly rational choice that explains the well known attraction and compromise effects. Choices in our model are interpreted as a cooperative solution to a bargaining problem among an individual’s conflicting dual selves. We axiomatically characterize a unique bargaining solution that captures both effects when the selves’ preferences are known. We then provide a revealed preference foundation to our solution, and characterize the extent to which these two underlying preference relations can be uniquely identified.