MARGINAL UTILITY AND RESTRAINTS ON GAIN MAXIMIZATION: The Discrimination Model of Rational, Repetitive Choice.

The Siegel-Of she two-component repetitive choice model, while demonstrating great predictive accuracy, is difficult to interpret and is very data-inefficient. Reasons for these shortcomings are analyzed in detail, and a modified model is suggested. The new model can be more easily interpreted, provides greater data-efficiency, and furthermore, holds up well when tested with available data. The importance of the new "discrimination" model for sociology lies mainly with two factors: first, it can explain deviations from gain maximization, and second, it demonstrates that individuals do not act directly on the basis of values (utility) but rather on the basis of marginal utility. A comparison of the discrimination model with the Camilleri-Berger model (a model in which marginal utility plays no role) favors the former. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]