How to do things with sunk costs
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21364035 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael Zhao (0000-0001-6656-9257, University of Notre Dame, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 58 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 596-615 |
| Publication date | 2024-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Noûs (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0029-4624 • E-ISSN: 1468-0068 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/nous.12471 |
| OpenAlex | W4381187046 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 14 |
It is a commonplace in economics that we should disregard sunk costs. The sunk cost effect might be widespread, goes the conventional wisdom, but we would be better off if we could rid ourselves of it. In this paper, I argue against the orthodoxy by showing that the sunk cost effect is often beneficial. Drawing on discussions of related topics in dynamic choice theory, I show that, in a range of cases, being disposed to honor sunk costs allows an agent to mimic a resolute chooser , someone who adopts the best plan at the outset of a decision problem and sticks with it, even when resoluteness is unfeasible. I discuss several kinds of cases in which honoring sunk costs coincides with resolute choice
Economics · Microeconomics · Neoclassical economics · Orthodoxy · Positive economics · Sunk costs · Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics · Economic Theory and Institutions · Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies · Philosophy
Willing, Wanting, Waiting
Rationality and Dynamic Choice
Situational Strategies for Self-Control
On Conceptualizing Self-Control as More Than the Effortful Inhibition of Impulses
Faces of Intention
What’s So Great About Self-Control? Examining the Importance of Effortful Self-Control and Temptation in Predicting Real-Life Depletion and Goal Attainment
The Nature of Rationality
Pragmatic Rationality and Rules
More than resisting temptation
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |