Andrew Caplin
Biographic Data
| ID | 1082441 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Andrew Caplin |
| GIVEN NAMES | Andrew |
| FAMILY NAME | Caplin |
| SIGNATURE | CAPLIN A |
| AFFILIATIONS | New York University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 35 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1998 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Rationally Inattentive Behavior: Characterizing and Generalizing Shannon Entropy
We introduce three new classes of attention cost functions: posterior separable, uniformly posterior separable, and invariant posterior separable. As with the Shannon cost function, all can be solved using Lagrangian methods. Uniformly posterior-separable cost functions capture many forms of sequential learning and hence play a key role in many applications. Invariant posterior-separable cost functions make learning strategies depend exclusively …
Comparison of Decisions under Unknown Experiments
We take the perspective of an econometrician who wants to determine which of two experiments provides higher expected utility but only knows the decisions under each experiment. To compare these decisions, the econometrician must make inferences about what the experiment might have been for each set of decisions. We provide a necessary and sufficient condition that identifies when every experiment consistent with one set of decisions has a higher…
Long-Term-Care Utility and Late-in-Life Saving
Older wealth holders spend down assets much more slowly than predicted by classic life-cycle models. This paper introduces health-dependent utility into a model with incomplete markets in which preferences for bequests, expenditures when in need of long-term care, and ordinary consumption combine with health and longevity uncertainty to explain saving behavior. To sharply identify motives, it develops strategic survey questions (SSQs) that elicit…
Defaults and Attention: The Drop Out Effect
Les responsables de politiques publiques peuvent être tentés de réduire les erreurs de décision en établissant des options par défaut de bonne qualité. Les bénéfices attendus d’une telle politique peuvent cependant être menacés par un « comportement d’abandon », lorsque l’option par défaut est acceptée hâtivement avec peu de considération pour la compatibilité individuelle. Cet effet peut totalement annuler les bénéfices associés à une option par…
A Testable Theory of Imperfect Perception
International audience
A Testable Theory of Imperfect Perception
We introduce a rational choice theory that allows for many forms of imperfect perception, including failures of memory, selective attention, and adherence to simplifying rules of thumb. Despite its generality, the theory has strong, simple, and intuitive implications for standard choice data and for more enriched choice data. The central assumption is rational expectations: decision makers understand the relationship between their perceptions, ho…
Economic Theory and the World of Practice: A Celebration of the (S,s) Model
It was the question of how best to balance the costs of ordering and of running out of stock against the costs of holding excess inventory that inspired Kenneth Arrow, Theodore Harris, and Jacob Marschak to introduce the (S, s) model in 1951. In this celebratory article, we show how this model not only answered important practical questions, but also opened the door to a quite startling range of important and challenging follow-up questions, many…
Retirement Consumption: Insights from a Survey
Prior research has established that consumption falls significantly at retirement. What is not known is the extent to which this fall is anticipated during the working years. Using data from a new survey, we show that many working households do expect a considerable fall in consumption when they retire. In fact, those who are already retired report significantly smaller falls in consumption than are expected by those who are still working
The Social Discount Rate
In welfare theory it is standard to pick the consumption stream that maximizes the welfare of the representative agent. We argue against this position, and show that a benevolent social planner will generally place a greater weight on future consumption than does the representative agent. Our analysis has immediate implications for public policy: agents discount the future too much and the government should promote future oriented policies
The Supply of Information by a Concerned Expert
How much information should a policy maker pass on to an ill‐informed citizen? In this paper, we address this classic question of Crawford and Sobel (1982) in a setting in which beliefs impact utility, as in Kreps and Porteus (1978). We show that this question cannot be answered using a utility function with standard revealed preference foundations. To solve the model, we go beyond the classical model in two respects, relying on the psychological…
Psychological Expected Utility Theory and Anticipatory Feelings
We extend expected utility theory to situations in which agents experience feelings of anticipation prior to the resolution of uncertainty. We show how these anticipatory feelings may result in time inconsistency. We provide an example from portfolio theory to illustrate the potential impact of anticipation on asset prices.
Behavioral dimensions of retirement economics
No Abstact
Behavioral dimensions of retirement economics
Miracle on Sixth Avenue: Information Externalities and Search
Journal Article Miracle on Sixth Avenue: Information Externalities and Search Get access Andrew Caplin, Andrew Caplin New York University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar John Leahy John Leahy Boston University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Economic Journal, Volume 108, Issue 446, 1 January 1998, Pages 60–74, https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0297.00273 Published: 2…
Miracle on Sixth Avenue: Information Externalities and Search
Journal Article Miracle on Sixth Avenue: Information Externalities and Search Get access Andrew Caplin, Andrew Caplin New York University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar John Leahy John Leahy Boston University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Economic Journal, Volume 108, Issue 446, 1 January 1998, Pages 60–74, https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0297.00273 Published: 2…
Long-Term-Care Utility and Late-in-Life Saving
Older wealth holders spend down assets much more slowly than predicted by classic life-cycle models. This paper introduces health-dependent utility into a model with incomplete markets in which preferences for bequests, expenditures when in need of long-term care, and ordinary consumption combine with health and longevity uncertainty to explain saving behavior. To sharply identify motives, it develops strategic survey questions (SSQs) that elicit…
The Social Discount Rate
In welfare theory it is standard to pick the consumption stream that maximizes the welfare of the representative agent. We argue against this position, and show that a benevolent social planner will generally place a greater weight on future consumption than does the representative agent. Our analysis has immediate implications for public policy: agents discount the future too much and the government should promote future oriented policies
A Testable Theory of Imperfect Perception
International audience
Rationally Inattentive Behavior: Characterizing and Generalizing Shannon Entropy
We introduce three new classes of attention cost functions: posterior separable, uniformly posterior separable, and invariant posterior separable. As with the Shannon cost function, all can be solved using Lagrangian methods. Uniformly posterior-separable cost functions capture many forms of sequential learning and hence play a key role in many applications. Invariant posterior-separable cost functions make learning strategies depend exclusively …
The Supply of Information by a Concerned Expert
How much information should a policy maker pass on to an ill‐informed citizen? In this paper, we address this classic question of Crawford and Sobel (1982) in a setting in which beliefs impact utility, as in Kreps and Porteus (1978). We show that this question cannot be answered using a utility function with standard revealed preference foundations. To solve the model, we go beyond the classical model in two respects, relying on the psychological…
Comparison of Decisions under Unknown Experiments
We take the perspective of an econometrician who wants to determine which of two experiments provides higher expected utility but only knows the decisions under each experiment. To compare these decisions, the econometrician must make inferences about what the experiment might have been for each set of decisions. We provide a necessary and sufficient condition that identifies when every experiment consistent with one set of decisions has a higher…
Miracle on Sixth Avenue: Information Externalities and Search
Journal Article Miracle on Sixth Avenue: Information Externalities and Search Get access Andrew Caplin, Andrew Caplin New York University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar John Leahy John Leahy Boston University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Economic Journal, Volume 108, Issue 446, 1 January 1998, Pages 60–74, https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0297.00273 Published: 2…
Behavioral dimensions of retirement economics
No Abstact
Behavioral dimensions of retirement economics
Psychological Expected Utility Theory and Anticipatory Feelings
We extend expected utility theory to situations in which agents experience feelings of anticipation prior to the resolution of uncertainty. We show how these anticipatory feelings may result in time inconsistency. We provide an example from portfolio theory to illustrate the potential impact of anticipation on asset prices.
The Social Discount Rate
In welfare theory it is standard to pick the consumption stream that maximizes the welfare of the representative agent. We argue against this position, and show that a benevolent social planner will generally place a greater weight on future consumption than does the representative agent. Our analysis has immediate implications for public policy: agents discount the future too much and the government should promote future oriented policies
The Supply of Information by a Concerned Expert
How much information should a policy maker pass on to an ill‐informed citizen? In this paper, we address this classic question of Crawford and Sobel (1982) in a setting in which beliefs impact utility, as in Kreps and Porteus (1978). We show that this question cannot be answered using a utility function with standard revealed preference foundations. To solve the model, we go beyond the classical model in two respects, relying on the psychological…
Retirement Consumption: Insights from a Survey
Prior research has established that consumption falls significantly at retirement. What is not known is the extent to which this fall is anticipated during the working years. Using data from a new survey, we show that many working households do expect a considerable fall in consumption when they retire. In fact, those who are already retired report significantly smaller falls in consumption than are expected by those who are still working
Economic Theory and the World of Practice: A Celebration of the (S,s) Model
It was the question of how best to balance the costs of ordering and of running out of stock against the costs of holding excess inventory that inspired Kenneth Arrow, Theodore Harris, and Jacob Marschak to introduce the (S, s) model in 1951. In this celebratory article, we show how this model not only answered important practical questions, but also opened the door to a quite startling range of important and challenging follow-up questions, many…
A Testable Theory of Imperfect Perception
We introduce a rational choice theory that allows for many forms of imperfect perception, including failures of memory, selective attention, and adherence to simplifying rules of thumb. Despite its generality, the theory has strong, simple, and intuitive implications for standard choice data and for more enriched choice data. The central assumption is rational expectations: decision makers understand the relationship between their perceptions, ho…
A Testable Theory of Imperfect Perception
International audience
Defaults and Attention: The Drop Out Effect
Les responsables de politiques publiques peuvent être tentés de réduire les erreurs de décision en établissant des options par défaut de bonne qualité. Les bénéfices attendus d’une telle politique peuvent cependant être menacés par un « comportement d’abandon », lorsque l’option par défaut est acceptée hâtivement avec peu de considération pour la compatibilité individuelle. Cet effet peut totalement annuler les bénéfices associés à une option par…
Long-Term-Care Utility and Late-in-Life Saving
Older wealth holders spend down assets much more slowly than predicted by classic life-cycle models. This paper introduces health-dependent utility into a model with incomplete markets in which preferences for bequests, expenditures when in need of long-term care, and ordinary consumption combine with health and longevity uncertainty to explain saving behavior. To sharply identify motives, it develops strategic survey questions (SSQs) that elicit…
Comparison of Decisions under Unknown Experiments
We take the perspective of an econometrician who wants to determine which of two experiments provides higher expected utility but only knows the decisions under each experiment. To compare these decisions, the econometrician must make inferences about what the experiment might have been for each set of decisions. We provide a necessary and sufficient condition that identifies when every experiment consistent with one set of decisions has a higher…
Rationally Inattentive Behavior: Characterizing and Generalizing Shannon Entropy
We introduce three new classes of attention cost functions: posterior separable, uniformly posterior separable, and invariant posterior separable. As with the Shannon cost function, all can be solved using Lagrangian methods. Uniformly posterior-separable cost functions capture many forms of sequential learning and hence play a key role in many applications. Invariant posterior-separable cost functions make learning strategies depend exclusively …
Economics (13 works) · Computer Science (10 works) · Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics (6 works) · Mathematical economics (6 works) · Microeconomics (6 works) · Expected utility hypothesis (5 works) · Artificial Intelligence (4 works) · Artificial Intelligence (4 works) · Actuarial science (3 works) · Econometrics (3 works)