The real options approach is used to explain discounted utility anomalies as artifacts of the optimizing behavior of an individual with standard preferences, who perceives the utility from consumption in the future as uncertain. For this individual,waiting is valuable because uncertainty is...

We explain essentially all known discounted utility anomalies as artefacts of the optimizing behavior of an individual with a time-separable utility function, who perceives a good as a source of a stochastic consumption stream, and believes that she can wait for an optimal moment to buy or sell...

Several discounted utility anomalies are explained as rational choices of an agent with standard preferences and stochastic income. We define the term structure of absolute risk aversion and demonstrate that the gain-loss asymmetry is observed for small gains and losses and a general utility...