Menu Choice, Environmental Cues and Temptation: A “Dual Self” Approach to Self-control

Abstract

We consider the following two-period problem of self-control. In the first period, an individual has to decide on the set of feasible choices from which she will select one in the second period. In the second period, the individual might choose an alternative that she would find inferior in the first period. This eventuality need not occur with certainty but might be triggered by the nature of the set chosen in the first period. We propose a model for this problem and axioms for first-period preferences, in which the second period choice could be interpreted as being made by an “alter ego” who appears with some probability. We provide a discussion of the behavioural implications of our model as compared with existing theories.

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