To predict choice behavior, the standard practice of economists has been to infer decision processes from data on observed choices. When decision makers act with partial information, economists typically assume that persons form probabilistic expectations for unknown quantities and maximize...

Consider the choice of a profiling policy where decisions to search for evidence of crime may vary with observable covariates of the persons at risk of search. I pose a planning problem whose objective is to minimise the social cost of crime and search. The consequences of a search rule depend...

Econometric analyses of treatment response commonly use instrumental variable (IV) assumptions to identify treatment effects. Yet the credibility of IV assumptions is often a matter of considerable disagreement. There is therefore good reason to consider weaker but more credible assumptions. To...

I analyse social interactions that stem from the successive endeavours of new cohorts of heterogeneous decision makers to learn from the experiences of past cohorts. A dynamic process of information accumulation and decision making occurs as the members of each cohort observe the experiences of...

Economists studying collective decision problems often consider how a social planner would behave. The standard exercise presumes complete knowledge of the welfare achieved by each feasible policy. However, we often have only partial knowledge of policy impacts. This paper extends my program of...

Censoring of outcomes (selection) is a common consequence of survey nonresponse and attrition in panels, and has received much attention. Joint censoring of regressors and outcomes is also common, but it has remained unexplored. This paper shows that the problem of identification when regressors...

This paper considers anew the simultaneity problem that arises when observations of transactions are used to study the demand behavior of price- taking consumers. Simultaneity is shown to be a problem of censored outcomes. This fact is used to obtain a basic negative finding on identification in...