In selecting the preferred course of action, decision makers are often uncertain about one or more probabilities of interest. The experimental literature has ascertained that this uncertainty (ambiguity) might affect decision makers’ preferences. Then, the decision maker might wish to...

This paper explores the differences in observed risk propensity among petroleum firms and their impact on firm performance. In this work, we (1) develop a decision theoretic model which measures a firm's risk propensity in the form of an "implied" utility function; (2) investigate changes in...

This paper relates recursive utility in continuous time to its discrete-time origins and provides a rigorous and intuitive alternative to a heuristic approach presented in [Duffie, Epstein 1992], who formally define recursive utility in continuous time via backward stochastic differential...

A random variable (RV) X is given aminimum selling price $$S_U \left( X \right):=\mathop {\sup }\limits_x \left\{ {x + EU\left( {X - x} \right)} \right\}$$ and amaximum buying price $$B_p \left( X \right):=\mathop {\inf }\limits_x \left\{ {x + EP\left( {X - x} \right)} \right\}$$ whereU(·)...

A random variable (RV) X is given aminimum selling price <Equation ID="E1"> <EquationSource Format="TEX"> $$S_U \left( X \right):=\mathop {\sup }\limits_x \left\{ {x + EU\left( {X - x} \right)} \right\}$$ </EquationSource> </Equation> and amaximum buying price <Equation ID="E2"> <EquationSource Format="TEX"> $$B_p \left( X \right):=\mathop {\inf }\limits_x \left\{ {x + EP\left( {X - x} \right)} \right\}$$ </EquationSource> </Equation>...</equationsource></equation></equationsource></equation>

This paper introduces a new method of estimating indifference curves in the Marschak-Machina triangle. The method involves posing questions about indifference. Contrary to previous attempts, where subjects were required to identify those lotteries to which they were indifferent vis-à-vis a...

In this paperwe relate individual risk attitude as elicited by binary lotteries and certainty equivalents to market behavior. By analyzing 26 independent markets with a total of 280 participants we show that binary lottery choices and certainty equivalents are pootly correlated. Only lottery...

A discrete stochastic, programming model is formulated to study the gains from diversification when farming operations are augmented with off-farm financial assets that are not highly correlated with returns from farming. We extend past research by considering the dynamics of accumulating these...

This paper presents a nonparametric approach to classification of data from lottery experiments. Using very basic mathematical tools the paper endeavors to answer the questions: How to determine the “average” subject in a group? How to find a subject presenting the most similar behavior to a...

The risk preferences of three-person groups and individuals are compared using a non-sequential repeated-measures lottery experiment with $20 per-player win percentages varying from 10% to 90%. Analysis based on independent samples of certainty equivalent ratios (certainty equivalent/expected...