TY - JOUR
T1 - Bayes and Hurwicz without Bernoulli
AU - Grant, Simon
AU - Rich, Patricia
AU - Stecher, Jack
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2022/1
Y1 - 2022/1
N2 - We provide a theory of decision under ambiguity that does not require expected utility maximization under risk. Instead, we require only that a decision maker be probabilistically sophisticated in evaluating a subcollection of acts. Three components determine the decision maker's ranking of acts: a prior, a map from ambiguous acts to equivalent risky lotteries, and a generalized notion of certainty equivalent. The prior is Bayesian, defined over the inverse image of acts for which the decision maker is probabilistically sophisticated. Ambiguity preferences are similar to Hurwicz, depending on an act's best- and worst-case interpretations. The generalized certainty equivalent may, but need not, come from a Bernoulli utility. The ability to combine appealing theories of risk and ambiguity at will has been sought after but missing from the literature, and our decomposition provides a promising way forward.
AB - We provide a theory of decision under ambiguity that does not require expected utility maximization under risk. Instead, we require only that a decision maker be probabilistically sophisticated in evaluating a subcollection of acts. Three components determine the decision maker's ranking of acts: a prior, a map from ambiguous acts to equivalent risky lotteries, and a generalized notion of certainty equivalent. The prior is Bayesian, defined over the inverse image of acts for which the decision maker is probabilistically sophisticated. Ambiguity preferences are similar to Hurwicz, depending on an act's best- and worst-case interpretations. The generalized certainty equivalent may, but need not, come from a Bernoulli utility. The ability to combine appealing theories of risk and ambiguity at will has been sought after but missing from the literature, and our decomposition provides a promising way forward.
KW - Ambiguity
KW - Certainty equivalent
KW - Risk
KW - Uncertainty
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85081937614&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jet.2020.105027
DO - 10.1016/j.jet.2020.105027
M3 - Article
SN - 0022-0531
VL - 199
JO - Journal of Economic Theory
JF - Journal of Economic Theory
M1 - 105027
ER -