Complexity and Satisficing: Theory with Evidence from Chess.
We develop a satisficing model of choice in which the available alternatives differ in their inherent complexity. We assume—and experimentally validate—that complexity leads to errors in the perception of alternatives' values. The model yields sharp predictions about the effect of complexity on choi...
| Publicado en: | Review of Economic Studies Vol. 93; no. 2; pp. 1296 - 1323 |
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| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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Oxford University Press / USA
Mar2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=192334034&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 192334034 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00346527 REM jtl: Review of Economic Studies issn: 00346527 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Mar2026 vid: 93 iid: 2 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 192334034 10.1093/restud/rdaf041 ppf: 1296 ppct: 27 formats: tig: atl: Complexity and Satisficing: Theory with Evidence from Chess. aug: au: Salant, Yuval Spenkuch, Jörg L affil: Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, USA Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, USA and NBER su: Decision making Bounded rationality Rational choice theory Empirical research Chess Computational complexity Behavioral economics Mathematical optimization sug: subj: Decision making Bounded rationality Rational choice theory Empirical research Chess Computational complexity Behavioral economics Mathematical optimization keyword: Choice Complexity copyrightHolder:Review of Economic Studies Ltd copyrightYear:2026 inLanguage:en Maximization publisher:Oxford University Press sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdaf041 Satisficing Choice Complexity copyrightHolder:Review of Economic Studies Ltd copyrightYear:2026 inLanguage:en Maximization publisher:Oxford University Press sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdaf041 Satisficing ab: We develop a satisficing model of choice in which the available alternatives differ in their inherent complexity. We assume—and experimentally validate—that complexity leads to errors in the perception of alternatives' values. The model yields sharp predictions about the effect of complexity on choice probabilities, some of which qualitatively contrast with those of maximization-based choice models. We confirm the predictions of the satisficing model—and thus reject maximization—in a novel data set with information on hundreds of millions of real-world chess moves by highly experienced players. Looking beyond chess, our work offers a blueprint for incorporating complexity at the level of individual objects into models of choice and for detecting satisficing outside of the laboratory. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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