<p>It depends on the extent to which your satisfaction data take into account:</p>
<ul>
<li>Heterogeneity of preferences</li>
<li>Price</li>
</ul>
<p>The intuition behind (strong) revealed preference is that you can tell a consumer prefers alternative 1 to alternative 2 if they are seen to the former when they could have afforded the latter. In your setting, this means you can only really interpret a purchasing decision for each given price.</p>
<p>It's possible, then, that either:</p>
<ul>
<li>The people who are satisfied with public transport are not the same people who use informal transport (if you're aggregating) or;</li>
<li>Price explains some or all of why people might choose an option with which they are less satisfied.</li>
</ul>
<p>Otherwise, you would have to conclude that there is a discrepancy between reported and revealed preference (which I think does sometimes happen).</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-05T07:34:28.860Z
2024-05-05T07:34:28.860Z
matthewoulton
<p>I'm working on a paper about commuter preferences and their level of satisfaction in a South American country. Do they prefer the metro or informal buses? That sort of thing. The data tells me that although people are more satisfied with the metro or Bus Rapid Transit alternatives financed by the government, they mostly use informal means of transportation, because the metro line, for example, has a shorter route than the informal option, and not many people can use it, it does not take them where they need to be, etc. So I'm not sure how to calculate the preference since the satisfaction and the decision are not correlated.</p>
<p>I have information about how many more travels were done in a day by bus in comparison to the metro; and what time of the day, there was more traffic. But I'm not sure what to use to calculate the preference. I was going to calculate the trade-off in terms of fares, but I can't use it, since it's not really about price but routes, so distance covered, and I don' know how to make that calculation.</p>
<p>Am I understanding revealed preferences incorrectly? Pls, any advice on how to approach this problem?</p>
<p>P.D. Although I would like to, I don't need preferences for the whole country or district (I'm not sure if it's possible to get a line for them all, I was told utility and preferences are different for each individual and its not possible to compare them), just one example that represents the situation. It's for and undergraduate paper, so my professor is more flexible.</p>

<mathematical-economics><utility><preferences><measuring-utility><transportation>
Revealed preferences - Commuter preferences
KEll
# Revealed preferences - Commuter preferences

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-05-01)

I'm working on a paper about commuter preferences and their level of satisfaction in a South American country. Do they prefer the metro or informal buses? That sort of thing. The data tells me that although people are more satisfied with the metro or Bus Rapid Transit alternatives financed by the government, they mostly use informal means of transportation, because the metro line, for example, has a shorter route than the informal option, and not many people can use it, it does not take them where they need to be, etc. So I'm not sure how to calculate the preference since the satisfaction and the decision are not correlated.

I have information about how many more travels were done in a day by bus in comparison to the metro; and what time of the day, there was more traffic. But I'm not sure what to use to calculate the preference. I was going to calculate the trade-off in terms of fares, but I can't use it, since it's not really about price but routes, so distance covered, and I don' know how to make that calculation.

Am I understanding revealed preferences incorrectly? Pls, any advice on how to approach this problem?

P.D. Although I would like to, I don't need preferences for the whole country or district (I'm not sure if it's possible to get a line for them all, I was told utility and preferences are different for each individual and its not possible to compare them), just one example that represents the situation. It's for and undergraduate paper, so my professor is more flexible.

**Tags:** mathematical-economics, utility, preferences, measuring-utility, transportation

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2024-05-05. Score: 1

It depends on the extent to which your satisfaction data take into account:

* Heterogeneity of preferences
* Price

The intuition behind (strong) revealed preference is that you can tell a consumer prefers alternative 1 to alternative 2 if they are seen to the former when they could have afforded the latter. In your setting, this means you can only really interpret a purchasing decision for each given price.

It's possible, then, that either:

* The people who are satisfied with public transport are not the same people who use informal transport (if you're aggregating) or;
* Price explains some or all of why people might choose an option with which they are less satisfied.

Otherwise, you would have to conclude that there is a discrepancy between reported and revealed preference (which I think does sometimes happen).


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