Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1987
ISSN
1879-1751
Publisher
North-Holland Pub. Co.
Language
en-US
Abstract
This paper reports the results of a survey conducted~ in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus dining hall~ The aim of the survey was to delineate students' perceptions of marginal cost,~ in a very specific, but not uncommon, situation. A majority of the respondents' answers suggest a complete misunderstanding of the relevant marginal costs. This study attempts to find out how individuals perceive ~their opportunity sets in a specific choice situation. The individuals studied are ~students who have meal plans at the M.LT. dining halls. Each term students pay a high price for the meals until a certain number of meals have been purchased. Thereafter there is a substantial discount of 42 percent. For a student who knows he will pass the limit, the marginal cost of an additional meal is the discounted price.
Recommended Citation
Keith N. Hylton,
Are MIT Students Rational?
,
in
8
Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
113
(1987).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/1038
