A General Framework for Estimating Preferences Using Response Time Data
Theoretical Economics
2025-08-04 v2 Machine Learning
Abstract
We propose a general methodology for recovering preference parameters from data on choices and response times. Our methods yield estimates with fast ( for data points) convergence rates when specialized to the popular Drift Diffusion Model (DDM), but are broadly applicable to generalizations of the DDM as well as to alternative models of decision making that make use of response time data. The paper develops an empirical application to an experiment on intertemporal choice, showing that the use of response times delivers predictive accuracy and matters for the estimation of economically relevant parameters.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2507.20403,
title = {A General Framework for Estimating Preferences Using Response Time Data},
author = {Federico Echenique and Alireza Fallah and Michael I. Jordan},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2507.20403},
year = {2025}
}