Many decision models in marketing science and psychology assume that a consumer chooses by proceeding sequentially through a checklist of desirable properties. These models are contrasted to the utility maximization model of rationality in economics. We show on the contrary that the two...

In an experimental study we examine a variant of the ‘minimum effort game’, acoordination game with Pareto ranked equilibria, and risk considerations pointing to theleast efficient equilibrium. We focus on the question whether simple cues such as smiles,winks and handshakes could be...