A Polynomial-Time Test for Peak-Oriented Rationalizability
We study the computational complexity of peak-oriented rationalizability, a survey based revealed-preference test introduced by Seror (2026). We provide a polynomial-time algorithm for testing rationalizability and recovering a utility function, establishing that peak-oriented preference elicitation is computationally tractable. In contrast, we show that computing the peak-oriented Houtman-Maks index is NP-hard. These results delineate the precise computational boundaries of peak-oriented revealed-preference analysis.
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