We study two tractable random non-forced choice models that explain behavioural patterns suggesting that the choice-deferral outside option is often selected when people find it hard to decide between the market alternatives available to them, even when these are few and desirable. The *decision-conflict logit* extends the logit model with an outside option by assigning a menu-dependent value to that option. This value captures the degree of complexity /  decision difficulty at the relevant menuand allows for the choice probability of the outside option to either increase or decrease when the menu is expanded, depending on *how many* as well as *how attractive* options are added to it. The *multicriteria logit* is a special case of this model and introduces multiple utility functions that jointly predict behaviour in a multiplicative-logit way. Every multicriteria logit admits a simple discrete-choice formulation  .
We propose the class of decision-conflict logit models. These are disciplined extensions of the logit with an outside option that assign a menu-dependent utility to that option. The relative value of this utility determines the probability of avoiding / deferring choice and can be interpreted as proxying decision difficulty at each menu. We focus on two subclasses where such difficulty is endogenous and either:(i) caused by resampling, as captured by the quadratic and dual logit models; (ii) decreasing in the utility differences between alternatives. In the latter approach we focus on reciprocal utility differences. This special case is inspired by the influential drift diffusion neuroeconomic model and predicts several observed choice-deferral phenomena. On the applications side, we show how the quadratic logit admits a discrete-choice formulation , and how it can be fruitfully used to study oligopolistic markets with product differentiation when consumers face decision difficulty .
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study two tractable random non-forced choice models that explain behavioural patterns suggesting that the choice-deferral outside option is often selected when people find it hard to decide between the market alternatives available to them, even when these are few and desirable. The *decision-conflict logit* extends the logit model
propose the class of decision-conflict logit models. These are disciplined extensions of the logit
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by assigning
that assign
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value
utility
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This value captures the degree of complexity
The relative value of this utility determines the probability of avoiding
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deferring choice and can be interpreted as proxying
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the relevant menuand allows for the choice probability of the outside option to either increase or decrease when the menu is expanded, depending on *how many* as well as *how attractive* options are added to it. The *multicriteria logit* is a special case of this model and introduces multiple utility functions that jointly predict behaviour in a multiplicative-logit way. Every multicriteria
each menu. We focus on two subclasses where such difficulty is endogenous and either:(i) caused by resampling, as captured by the quadratic and dual logit models; (ii) decreasing in the utility differences between alternatives. In the latter approach we focus on reciprocal utility differences. This special case is inspired by the influential drift diffusion neuroeconomic model and predicts several observed choice-deferral phenomena. On the applications side, we show how the quadratic
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simple
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, and how it can be fruitfully used to study oligopolistic markets with product differentiation when consumers face decision difficulty