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AbstractThis paper examines a statistical model of choice in which individual decisions have no preferential basis or optimizing behaviour. Individual consumption is chosen at random, while respecting a linear budget set. All the properties of classical demand theory, including symmetry and negative (semi)definiteness of the Slutsky matrix, are shown to be generally satisfied by mean (i.e., market) demands. Despite the fact that individuals are "irrational," mean demands can be rationalized as the outcome of utility‐maximizing behaviour, even when demands are interior. The severity and frequency of revealed preference violations are unable to reject economic rationality in irrational individuals.

This paper studies the relation between macroeconomic variables and the distribution
of income in Colombia. We relate the dynamics of aggregate economic variables
with the cross-section of disaggregate income to determine the transmission and
propagation mechanisms of aggregate shocks. The most important finding is a strong
negative effect of inflation rates on the distribution of income by education groups and
productive sectors.

This paper accounts for the value of children and future generations in the evaluation of health policies. This is achieved through the incorporation of altruism and fertility in a "value of life" type of framework. We are able to express adults' willingness to pay for changes in child mortality and also to incorporate the welfare of future generations in the evaluation of current policies. Our model clarifies a series of puzzles from the literature on the "value of life" and on intergenerational welfare comparisons. We show that, by incorporating altruism and fertility into the analysis, the estimated welfare gain from recent reductions in mortality in the U.S. easily doubles.

This paper accounts for the value of children and future generations in the evaluation of health policies. This is achieved through the incorporation of altruism and fertility in a value of life type of framework. We are able to express adults' willingness to pay for changes in child mortality and also to incorporate the welfare of future generations in the evaluation of current policies. Our model clarifies a series of puzzles from the literature on the value of life and on intergenerational welfare comparisons. We show that, by incorporating altruism and fertility into the analysis, the estimated welfare gain from recent reductions in mortality in the U.S. easily doubles.