On the path independence conditions for discrete-continuous demand

Richard Batley, Juan Nicolás Ibáñez Rivas

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

    Abstract

    We consider the manner in which the well-established path independence conditions apply to Small and Rosen's (1981) problem of discrete-continuous demand, focussing especially upon the restricted case of discrete choice (probabilistic) demand. We note that the consumer surplus measure promoted by Small and Rosen, which is specific to the probabilistic demand, imposes path independence to price changes a priori. We find that path independence to income changes can further be imposed provided a numeraire good is available in the consumption set. We show that, for practical purposes, McFadden's (1981) ‘residual income' specification of the conditional indirect utility function offers an appropriate means of representing path independence to price and income changes.
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalJournal of Choice Modelling
    Volume7
    Pages (from-to)13-23
    ISSN1755-5345
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2013

    Keywords

    • Path independence
    • Discrete-continuous demand
    • Discrete choice
    • Consumer surplus
    • Residual income

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