Economists have spent decades modelling choice as a quantity. It behaves more like a weather system. The measure that matters is not what people say about choice but what they do when nobody is scoring. Notice how rarely anyone is argued out of the receipt, and how often they are simply moved past it by a change in circumstance. The honest conclusion is uncomfortable for reformers: people are not waiting to be corrected.
Where the model breaks
A pattern this consistent is not a character flaw. It is a design feature, and design features can be worked with. The measure that matters is not what people say about choice but what they do when nobody is scoring. The strange thing about the receipt is not that it exists but that it works, most of the time, for most people. The point is not that people are foolish. The point is that choice is expensive, and we economise on it like everything else.
