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A COMPARISON OF INFORMATION STRUCTURES FOR A RIGID DECISION RULE CASE
Author(s) -
Ahituv Niv
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
decision sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.238
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 1540-5915
pISSN - 0011-7315
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-5915.1981.tb00093.x
Subject(s) - probabilistic logic , decision rule , computer science , influence diagram , function (biology) , decision theory , mathematical economics , information structure , theoretical computer science , artificial intelligence , mathematics , decision tree , statistics , linguistics , philosophy , evolutionary biology , biology
The information economics model of individual decision assumes that decision makers are capable of instantly modifying their decision rules in response to signal changes from the information structure. Individuals, however, often tend to stick to rigid decision rules, particularly when they are trained to respond with conditioned reactions, such as to a traffic light. This article modifies the individual decision model for such cases. It discusses probabilistic information structures as well as the deterministic information function. It results in an ordering of information structures that differs from the ordering imposed by the Blackwell Theorem. When deterministic information functions are considered, an ordering that is finer than the prevailing one is proposed. Transformations between deterministic and probabilistic information functions and the relationship between the proposed model and the previous theory are also discussed.