Lexicographic Majority

Abstract

This paper explores a relationship between lexicographic and majority preferences as a novel explanation of preference cycles in choice. Already May (1954) notes that, among subjects in his experiment who did not display a (majority) preference cycle, a vast majority ordered alternatives according to an attribute that they found overridingly important, suggesting that a lexicographic heuristic was used. Our model, Lexicographic Majority, reconciles these findings by providing a unified framework for lexicographic and simple majority preferences. We justify lexicographic majority preferences by providing an axiomatization in terms of behavioral properties.