Multinomial Probit and Qualitative Choice: A Computationally Efficient Algorithm

Abstract

Even though multinomial probit models have many attractive theoretical features and have been proposed for diverse choice problems (such as modal split and route choice in the transportation field), they have never been used in practice due to the lack of an adequate numerical technique for their application. The purpose of this paper is to introduce such a technique and to demonstrate the feasibility of forecasting with multinominal probit models. Our limited computational experience with the proposed numerical technique indicates that it is accurate, and can be efficiently applied to large choice problems.