Abstract

Discrete choice models in economics are often used to mathematically model the heuristic approaches that people use in decision-making. When faced with a large number of choices, however, people face information costs that lead to choice overload. Within the discrete choice framework, here we formulate a quantization-theoretic approach to optimally cluster choices into categories. This is a non-asymptotic form of rational inattention theory. Drawing on a recent equivalence result between discrete choice models and Bregman divergences, and on properties of Bregman clustering, our main result is that the same clustering algorithm is universally optimal for any additive random utility discrete choice model. Examples are given and hierarchical clustering is also discussed.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication55th Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems and Computers, ACSSC 2021
EditorsMichael B. Matthews
PublisherIEEE Computer Society
Pages1297-1301
Number of pages5
ISBN (Electronic)9781665458283
DOIs
StatePublished - 2021
Event55th Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems and Computers, ACSSC 2021 - Virtual, Pacific Grove, United States
Duration: Oct 31 2021Nov 3 2021

Publication series

NameConference Record - Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems and Computers
Volume2021-October
ISSN (Print)1058-6393

Conference

Conference55th Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems and Computers, ACSSC 2021
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityVirtual, Pacific Grove
Period10/31/2111/3/21

Keywords

  • Bregman divergence
  • clustering
  • discrete choice models
  • rational inattention theory

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Signal Processing
  • Computer Networks and Communications

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