Divergence of choices despite similarity of characteristics: An application of catastrophe theory (Q1110423)

Using the example (1) Forecasting the value of a random variable, and the example (2) Asking for the ``right'' salary, the authors consider a natural very general framework in which those examples are adapted. The classification of Thom's theorem of catastrophe theory is described and used to motivate that it is possible to have ``divergence of choices despite similarity of characteristics and objectives''.