A Measure of Behavioral Heterogeneity

In this paper, we propose a novel way to measure behavioral heterogeneity in a population of stochastic individuals. Our measure is choice-based; it evaluates the probability that, over a randomly selected menu, the sampled choices of two sampled individuals differ. We provide axiomatic foundations for this measure and a decomposition result that separates heterogeneity into its intrapersonal and interpersonal components. (JEL D01, D11, D91)

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Publication Details

Journal
American Economic Journal Microeconomics
Published
2026-04-27
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1257/mic.20240239
Primary Topic
Game Theory and Voting Systems
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

A Measure of Behavioral Heterogeneity

José Apesteguía, Miguel A. Ballester
American Economic Journal Microeconomics
Game Theory and Voting Systems
article

A Measure of Behavioral Heterogeneity

José Apesteguía, Miguel A. Ballester
article en

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a novel way to measure behavioral heterogeneity in a population of stochastic individuals. Our measure is choice-based; it evaluates the probability that, over a randomly selected menu, the sampled choices of two sampled individuals differ. We provide axiomatic foundations for this measure and a decomposition result that separates heterogeneity into its intrapersonal and interpersonal components. (JEL D01, D11, D91)

American Economic Journal MicroeconomicsVol. 18(2)
Ikerbasque (ES), University of the Basque Country (ES), Universitat Pompeu Fabra (ES)
Openalex Percentile: Top 2%
Game Theory and Voting Systems
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