Procedural choice

Summary. In this paper, we attempt to combine the concept of a choice function with a procedural aspect. We examine an individuals choices over alternatives when the available options are linked either to the procedure by which these alternatives came into existence or to the degree of availability of other options. The procedural aspect behind availability may prompt an individual to refuse to choose so that the choice set becomes empty. This particular aspect is used to study different cases that are characterized axiomatically. We relate our conditions to well-known consistency conditions from standard choice theory.Received: 2 December 2002, Revised: 18 August 2003JEL Classification Numbers: D62, D63, D71.Correspondence to: Wulf GaertnerThe first author would like to thank Volkswagen-Stiftung for generous financial support. For helpful comments and suggestions we are grateful to Fuad Aleskerov, Nick Baigent, Nancy Cartwright, Kotaro Suzumura as well as to seminar participants at various universities and audiences at several conferences.