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The Role of Utility in the State-Preference Framework

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2009

Robert G. Bowman
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Extract

State-preference theory has developed as a choice-theoretic framework through which many problems of finance and economics dealing with time and uncertainty can be analyzed. Hirshleifer [3], [4], [5], [6] has used the approach to provide significant insights to areas such as production and exchange, investment decisions, and speculative behavior. However, the theory has not made progress in attempting to incorporate state-labeled utility functions into the body of the theory. This paper will develop a method of graphically and analytically allowing for differing utility functions across states. As a further step, the impact of belief-deviation upon the tangency optimum will be discussed. Finally, the significance of these findings upon the consideration of risk will be discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , June 1975 , pp. 341 - 352
Copyright
Copyright © School of Business Administration, University of Washington 1975

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References

REFERENCES

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