Consumer surplus for random regret minimisation models

Journal article (2018)

Authors

C.G. Chorus Transport and Logistics - TPM
Thijs Dekker University of Leeds
Department
Engineering, Systems and Services
Copyright: © 2018 C.G. Chorus, Thijs Dekker
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/21606544.2018.1424039
Welfare Random regret minimisation Consumer surplus Probabilistic demand function Context dependency
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Published Date

2018

Language

English

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Department

Engineering, Systems and Services

Abstract

This paper is the first to develop a measure of consumer surplus for the Random Regret Minimisation (RRM) model. Following a not so well-known approach proposed two decades ago, we measure (changes in) consumer surplus by studying (changes in) observed behaviour, i.e. the choice probability, in response to price (changes). We interpret the choice probability as a well-behaved approximation of the probabilistic demand curve and accordingly measure the consumer surplus as the area underneath this demand curve. The developed welfare measure enables researchers to assign a measure of consumer surplus to specific alternatives in the context of a given choice set. Moreover, we are able to value changes in the non-price attributes of a specific alternative. We illustrate how differences in consumer surplus between random regret and random utility models follow directly from the differences in their behavioural premises.