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Elicitation of Preferences pp 171–202Cite as

Choice Bracketing

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Abstract

When making many choices, a person can broadly bracket them by assessing the consequences of all of them taken together, or narrowly bracket them by making each choice in isolation. We integrate research conducted in a wide range of decision contexts which shows that choice bracketing is an important determinant of behavior. Because broad bracketing allows people to take into account all the consequences of their actions, it generally leads to choices that yield higher utility. The evidence that we review, however, shows that people often fail to bracket broadly when it would be feasible for them to do so. In addition to documenting the diverse effects of bracketing, we also discuss factors that determine whether people bracket narrowly or broadly. We conclude with a discussion of normative aspects of bracketing and argue that there are some situations in which narrower bracketing results in superior decision making.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leeds University Business School, Leeds, UK, LS2 9JT

    Daniel Read

  2. Department of Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, USA

    George Loewenstein

  3. Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley, USA

    Matthew Rabin

  4. Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands

    Gideon Keren

  5. Department of Economics, Littauer M-14, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA

    David Laibson

Authors
  1. Daniel Read
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  2. George Loewenstein
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  3. Matthew Rabin
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  4. Gideon Keren
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  5. David Laibson
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, USA

    Baruch Fischhoff

  2. Department of Economics, Northwestern University, USA

    Charles F. Manski

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© 1999 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Read, D., Loewenstein, G., Rabin, M., Keren, G., Laibson, D. (1999). Choice Bracketing. In: Fischhoff, B., Manski, C.F. (eds) Elicitation of Preferences. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1406-8_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1406-8_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-5776-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-1406-8

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