ACCORDING to the philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds”. Now, mathematicians have proved him right by showing that inconsistency has its benefits: for example, in making us more knowledgeable or leading to a more balanced diet.
Economic theorists have long argued that people should choose in an ordered, consistent way between the things they like. For instance, if you prefer Coke to Pepsi, and Pepsi to lemonade, then you should prefer Coke to lemonade. But experiments have shown that what people prefer often depends, for example, on how the choice is presented.
This…
