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We investigate the consequences of individual satisficing for modeling aggregate demand, providing an approximate aggregation theorem. We present a simple method for statistical inference on the minimal level of satisficing needed to explain aggregate data. In an illustrative application to scanner panel data, we find that individual\u2010level data require a nontrivial degree of satisficing, but aggregate data admit a representative agent that maximizes a quasilinear utility function.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3982\/qe2025","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,30]],"date-time":"2026-04-30T12:29:57Z","timestamp":1777552197000},"page":"431-460","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Satisficing, aggregation, and quasilinear utility"],"prefix":"10.3982","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Roy","family":"Allen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Economics, University of Western Ontario"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"John","family":"Rehbeck","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Economics, The Ohio State University"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"2359","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026]]},"reference":[{"issue":"1","key":"quan70014-bib-0001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"67","DOI":"10.2307\/2525382","volume":"8","author":"Afriat","year":"1967","journal-title":"International economic review"},{"key":"quan70014-bib-0002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"460","DOI":"10.2307\/2525934","author":"Afriat","year":"1973","journal-title":"International Economic Review"},{"issue":"4","key":"quan70014-bib-0003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2042","DOI":"10.1093\/restud\/rdaa067","volume":"88","author":"Aguiar","year":"2021","journal-title":"The Review of Economic Studies"},{"issue":"4","key":"quan70014-bib-0004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"820","DOI":"10.1016\/j.reseneeco.2011.06.003","volume":"33","author":"Allcott","year":"2011","journal-title":"Resource and energy economics"},{"issue":"3","key":"quan70014-bib-0005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1021","DOI":"10.3982\/ECTA15867","volume":"87","author":"Allen","year":"2019","journal-title":"Econometrica"},{"key":"quan70014-bib-0006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Allen, Roy and John Rehbeck (2026), \u201cSupplement to \u2018Satisficing, aggregation, and quasilinear utility\u2019.\u201d Quantitative Economics Supplemental Material, 17, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3982\/QE2025.","DOI":"10.3982\/QE2025"},{"key":"quan70014-bib-0007","unstructured":"Allen, Roy and John Rehbeck (2020), \u201cCounterfactual and welfare analysis with an approximate model.\u201d Working Paper."},{"key":"quan70014-bib-0008","author":"Alvarez","year":"2024","journal-title":"Review of Economic Studies"},{"issue":"3","key":"quan70014-bib-0009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"669","DOI":"10.1017\/S0266466608090257","volume":"25","author":"Andrews","year":"2009","journal-title":"Econometric Theory"},{"issue":"1","key":"quan70014-bib-0010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"119","DOI":"10.1111\/1468-0262.00271","volume":"78","author":"Andrews","year":"2010","journal-title":"Econometrica"},{"key":"quan70014-bib-0011","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1137\/1.9780898719062","volume-title":"A First Course in Order Statistics","author":"Arnold","year":"2008"},{"issue":"2","key":"quan70014-bib-0012","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"303","DOI":"10.1137\/0128026","volume":"28","author":"B\u00f6hm","year":"1975","journal-title":"SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics"},{"key":"quan70014-bib-0013","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511804441","volume-title":"Convex Optimization","author":"Boyd","year":"2004"},{"issue":"1","key":"quan70014-bib-0014","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"183","DOI":"10.1007\/s00199-006-0087-5","volume":"31","author":"Brown","year":"2007","journal-title":"Economic Theory"},{"key":"quan70014-bib-0015","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"979","DOI":"10.2307\/2526762","author":"Browning","year":"1989","journal-title":"International Economic Review"},{"issue":"7","key":"quan70014-bib-0016","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3214","DOI":"10.1257\/aer.102.7.3214","volume":"102","author":"Bundorf","year":"2012","journal-title":"American Economic Review"},{"issue":"2","key":"quan70014-bib-0017","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"203","DOI":"10.1007\/s13209-016-0140-y","volume":"7","author":"Cherchye","year":"2016","journal-title":"SERIEs"},{"issue":"5","key":"quan70014-bib-0018","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1867","DOI":"10.1093\/restud\/rdy065","volume":"86","author":"Chernozhukov","year":"2018","journal-title":"The Review of Economic Studies"},{"issue":"1","key":"quan70014-bib-0019","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"451","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev.economics.050708.142910","volume":"1","author":"Chetty","year":"2009","journal-title":"Annu. 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