Published December 2000
| Version Submitted
Working Paper
Open
Ambiguity Made Precise: A Comparative Foundation
Creators
Abstract
The theory of subjective expected utility (SEU) has been recently extended to allow ambiguity to matter for choice. We propose a notion of absolute ambiguity aversion by building on a notion of comparative ambiguity aversion. We characterize it for a preference model which encompasses some of the most popular models in the literature. We next build on these ideas to provide a definition of unambiguous act and event, and show the characterization of the latter. As an illustration, we consider the classical Ellsberg 3-color urn problem and find that the notions developed in the paper provide intuitive answers.
Additional Information
Revised. Originally dated to October 1997. An earlier version of this paper was circulated with the title "Ambiguity Made Precise: A Comparative Foundation and Some Implications". We thank Kim Border, Eddie Dekel, Itzhak Gilboa, Tony Kwasnica, Antonio Rangel, David Schmeidler, audiences at Caltech, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, NYU, Rochester, UC-Irvine, Universite Paris I, the TARK VII-Summer Micro Conference (Northwestern, July 1998), the 1999 RUD Workshop, and especially Simon Grant, Peter Klibanoff, Biung-Ghi Ju, Peter Wakker, and an anonymous referee for helpful comments and discussion. Our greatest debt of gratitude is however to Larry Epstein, who sparked our interest on this subject with his paper, and stimulated it with many discussions. Marinacci gratefully acknowledges the financial support of MURST.Attached Files
Submitted - sswp1026_-_revised.pdf
Files
sswp1026_-_revised.pdf
Files
(266.0 kB)
| Name | Size | Download all |
|---|---|---|
|
md5:c2fbdb5a2be8afe21747cdac10848c1e
|
266.0 kB | Preview Download |
Additional details
Identifiers
- Eprint ID
- 83010
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20171106-162252775
Related works
- Describes
- http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20170408-154332733 (URL)
Funding
- Ministero dell'università e della ricerca (MURST)
- Cofin2000
Dates
- Created
-
2017-11-07Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2019-10-03Created from EPrint's last_modified field
Caltech Custom Metadata
- Caltech groups
- Social Science Working Papers
- Series Name
- Social Science Working Paper
- Series Volume or Issue Number
- 1026