Complex for Whom? An Experimental Approach to Subjective Complexity
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Series
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Speaker(s)Isabel Trevino (University of California, San Diego, United States)
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FieldBehavioral Economics
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LocationUniversity of Amsterdam, Roeterseiland Campus, room E1.17
Amsterdam -
Date and time
June 19, 2025
16:00 - 17:15
Abstract
We present a set of tools to elicit subjective perceptions of the complexity of a set of choice problems commonly studied in economics. Our objective is to map the description of a problem to the distribution of subjective perceptions of its complexity, and then map such perceptions to choices. We find that different problems are perceived differently, leading to different observed behavior. Using our analysis, we conclude that some behavior previously classified as anomalous can be attributed to a subset of subjects who perceive the problem in a particular way and is therefore not a general phenomenon. Joint paper with Marina Agranov and Andy Schotte.