{
  "title": "Budget allocations: how categories shape decisions",
  "url": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/enveloppes-budgetaires-ce-que-les-categories-changent-a-la-decision-en",
  "language": "en",
  "datePublished": "2026-04-15",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "SHR — Swiss Human Resources",
    "url": "https://www.shr.swiss",
    "address": "Esplanade de Pont-Rouge 9A, 1212 Lancy, Suisse"
  },
  "summary": "An expense is not judged solely by its amount and usefulness. The budget category to which it is assigned can also change its acceptability.",
  "section": "Research",
  "topic": "Decision-making",
  "place": {
    "name": "Lausanne",
    "region": "Vaud",
    "country": "CH"
  },
  "keyPoints": [
    {
      "heading": "What the literature establishes",
      "point": "Richard Thaler (1985, Marketing Science) proposes a model of mental accounting in which individuals organise gains and expenses into separate accounts, rather than treating them as a fully interchangeable whole."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The mechanism of mental budgeting",
      "point": "Chip Heath and Jack Soll (1996, Journal of Consumer Research) show, in experiments on consumer decisions, that budgets assigned to different categories can lead to underconsumption relative to participants' opportunities and preferences."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The premature conclusion",
      "point": "It would be tempting to conclude that budget allocations obstruct sound decisions and should be abolished."
    },
    {
      "heading": "What the evidence does not allow us to transfer",
      "point": "The cited research concerns individual choices and consumption, not the investment procedures of organisations in Lausanne."
    },
    {
      "heading": "A practical check in Lausanne",
      "point": "Within SHR's “[Decision-making](/formation/prise-de-decision/lausanne)” programme, an exercise suitable for medtech companies, higher education institutions, international sports organisations and scale-ups around Lake Geneva is to test a fictional spending proposal, such as data security training."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "authors": "Thaler",
      "year": "1985",
      "source": "Marketing Science"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Soll",
      "year": "1996",
      "source": "Journal of Consumer Research"
    }
  ],
  "wordCount": 408,
  "image": "https://www.shr.swiss/img/blog-editorial-2026-04-15-en.jpg?v=4",
  "translations": {
    "fr": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/enveloppes-budgetaires-ce-que-les-categories-changent-a-la-decision",
    "en": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/enveloppes-budgetaires-ce-que-les-categories-changent-a-la-decision-en",
    "de": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/enveloppes-budgetaires-ce-que-les-categories-changent-a-la-decision-de",
    "it": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/enveloppes-budgetaires-ce-que-les-categories-changent-a-la-decision-it"
  },
  "relatedPages": {
    "programme": "https://www.shr.swiss/formation/prise-de-decision/lausanne",
    "city": "https://www.shr.swiss/formations-ville/lausanne",
    "blog": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog"
  },
  "citationPolicy": "Citation autorisée avec mention « SHR — Swiss Human Resources » et lien vers l'article."
}