I am trying to solve this question:
Find the major product of the following reaction:
Now we could either do electrophilic addition on the alkene or do dehydration of alcohol. These two different reaction pathways yield different products. So how do we decide which reaction occurs first?
I thought that electrophilic addition could be favored because of the generation of a carbocation that could then undergo $\mathrm{S_Ni}$ reaction with the $\ce{-OH}$ generating a cyclic structure. Now if the cyclic structure were more stable than the open chain product formed by dehydration of alcohol then this reaction could be favored. But I don't know how this could be proven.