Non-transitive Preferences over Gains and Losses

Although transitivity is often regarded as an indispensable principle of rational choice under uncertainty, some decision models allow nontransitive preferences. One of these--regret theory--is consistent with a particular pattern of choice cycles when payoffs are nonnegative and the opposite pattern of cycles when payoffs are nonpositive. This paper presents evidence from an experiment designed to test these implications of regret theory. Copyright 1992 by Royal Economic Society.

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