Portfolio Choice and Risk

Risk aversion and the riskiness of assets are interpreted in terms of a model of portfolio choice where the maximand is conditional on the probability of satisfying a minimum constraint on the future value of the portfolio. It is a consequence that the riskiness of the average asset in the portfolio increases with wealth, and when expected value is the maximand, low-risk low-return assets are inferior goods. The model also gives straightforward explanations of the Allais paradox and other puzzling patterns of choice under risk.