It is a commonplace in economics that we should disregard sunk costs. The sunk cost effect might be widespread, goes the conventional wisdom, but we would be better off if we could rid ourselves of it. In this paper, I argue against the orthodoxy by showing that the sunk cost effect is often beneficial. Drawing on discussions of related topics in dynamic choice theory, I show that, in a range of cases, being disposed to honor sunk costs allows an agent to mimic a resolute chooser, someone who adopts the best plan at the outset of a decision problem and sticks with it, even when resoluteness is unfeasible. I discuss several kinds of cases in which honoring sunk costs coincides with resolute choice.

中文翻译：

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如何用沉没成本做事

我们应该忽略沉没成本，这是经济学中的一个常识。传统观点认为，沉没成本效应可能很普遍，但如果我们能够摆脱它，我们的境况会更好。在本文中，我通过证明沉没成本效应通常是有益的来反对正统观念。借鉴动态选择理论中相关主题的讨论，我表明，在一系列情况下，倾向于尊重沉没成本可以使代理人模仿坚定的选择者，即在决策问题一开始就采取最佳计划的人，并且即使决心不可行，也要坚持下去。我讨论了几种尊重沉没成本与坚决选择同时发生的案例。