This paper proposes a tractable alternative to Cobb-Douglas utility to resolve the problems of lack of reservation price and income effects in demand functions derived from Cobb-Douglas utility or quasilinear utility. Another advantage of this alternative is that it provides a closed-form...

According to the endowment effect there is some discomfort associated with giving up a good, that is to say, we are willing to give up something only if the price is greater than the price we are willing to pay for it. This implies that the indifference curves should designate a reference point...

We consider a formal approach to comparative risk aversion and applies it to intertemporal choice models. This allows us to ask whether standard classes of utility functions, such as those inspired by Kihlstrom and Mirman [15], Selden [26], Epstein and Zin [9] and Quiggin [24] are well-ordered...

We derive a class of utility functions that are equivalent with respect to a well-defined functional form. We apply a general view of constant relative risk aversion to investigate on different equivalence relations. Then we compare our results with standard applications in economics and finance.

Using a homogeneous and continuous utility function that represents a household's preferences, this paper proves explicit identities between most of the different objects that arise from the utility maximization and the expenditure minimization problems. The paper also outlines the homogeneity...

This paper theoretically derives a general utility function for inferior goods that accounts for the utility derived from both the quality and the quantity aspects of goods in a model with two substitutable consumption goods. We show the conditions under which a good becomes a normal, an...

Afriat (1967) showed the equivalence of the strong axiom of revealed preference and the existence of a solution to a set of linear inequalities. From this solution he constructed a utility function rationalizing the choices of a competitive consumer. We extend Afriat's theorem to a class of...

We propose a discrete-time exchange economy evolutionary model, in which two groups of agents are possibly characterized by heterogeneous preference structures. With respect to the classical Walrasian framework, in our setting the definition of equilibrium, in addition to utility functions and...

This paper proposes a new theoretical foundation for utility functions over wealth with a constant elasticity. The key idea is that, when decision makers face an underlying distribution of consumption values for which they allocate their wealth to attain, then their utility over that wealth is...