Disentangling Revealed Preference From Rationalization by a Preference

Abstract

The weak axiom of revealed preference (WARP) ensures that the revealed preference (i) is a preference relation (i.e., it is complete and transitive) and (ii) rationalizes the choices. However, when WARP fails, either one of these two properties is violated, but it is unclear which one it is. We provide an alternative characterization of WARP by showing that WARP is equivalent to the conjunction of two axioms each of which separately guarantees (i) and (ii).