IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/buecrs/v55y2003i4p357-371.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Utility Functions whose Parameters depend on Initial Wealth

Author

Listed:
  • Christian S. Pedersen
  • S. E. Satchell

Abstract

Conventional one‐period utility functions in Economics assume that initial wealth only enters preferences through the definition of final wealth. Consequently, those utility functions most utilized (i.e., exponential and quadratic) have implausible risk characteristics. The authors characterize a new class of utility function whose risk parameters depend upon initial wealth and obtain several desirable results. In particular, investors with quadratic and exponential utility functions can have decreasing risk aversion, and risky assets in a quadratic utility multi‐asset environment do not have to be inferior as implied by the traditional framework.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian S. Pedersen & S. E. Satchell, 2003. "Utility Functions whose Parameters depend on Initial Wealth," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(4), pages 357-371, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:buecrs:v:55:y:2003:i:4:p:357-371
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-8586.00181
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8586.00181
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1467-8586.00181?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Grandmont, Jean-Michel, 1992. "Transformations of the commodity space, behavioral heterogeneity, and the aggregation problem," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 1-35.
    2. Kahneman, Daniel & Knetsch, Jack L & Thaler, Richard H, 1990. "Experimental Tests of the Endowment Effect and the Coase Theorem," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(6), pages 1325-1348, December.
    3. West, Kenneth D. & Edison, Hali J. & Cho, Dongchul, 1993. "A utility-based comparison of some models of exchange rate volatility," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(1-2), pages 23-45, August.
    4. Johann Pfanzag, 1959. "A general theory of measurement applications to utility," Naval Research Logistics Quarterly, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 6(4), pages 283-294, December.
    5. Ross, Stephen A., 1974. "Portfolio turnpike theorems for constant policies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(2), pages 171-198, July.
    6. Grauer, Robert R, 1981. "Investment Policy Implications of the Capital Asset Pricing Model," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 36(1), pages 127-141, March.
    7. Arrow, Kenneth J, 1982. "Risk Perception in Psychology and Economics," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 20(1), pages 1-9, January.
    8. Alessie, Rob & Lusardi, Annamaria, 1997. "Consumption, saving and habit formation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 103-108, August.
    9. Huberman, Gur & Ross, Stephen, 1983. "Portfolio Turnpike Theorems, Risk Aversion, and Regularly Varying Utility Functions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 51(5), pages 1345-1361, September.
    10. Holthausen, Duncan M, 1981. "A Risk-Return Model with Risk and Return Measured as Deviations from a Target Return," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(1), pages 182-188, March.
    11. Cass, David & Stiglitz, Joseph E., 1970. "The structure of investor preferences and asset returns, and separability in portfolio allocation: A contribution to the pure theory of mutual funds," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 122-160, June.
    12. Morrison, Gwendolyn C., 1998. "Understanding the disparity between WTP and WTA: endowment effect, substitutability, or imprecise preferences?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 189-194, May.
    13. Hildenbrand, Werner, 1983. "On the "Law of Demand."," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 51(4), pages 997-1019, July.
    14. Pollak, Robert A, 1970. "Habit Formation and Dynamic Demand Functions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(4), pages 745-763, Part I Ju.
    15. Frederick Mosteller & Philip Nogee, 1951. "An Experimental Measurement of Utility," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(5), pages 371-371.
    16. Pedersen, Christian S., 2000. "Separating risk and return in the CAPM: A general utility-based model," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 123(3), pages 628-639, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Elena Krasnokutskaya, 2009. "Choice of product under government regulation: The case of Chile's privatized pension system," 2009 Meeting Papers 230, Society for Economic Dynamics.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jean-Michel Grandmont, 2017. "Behavioral Heterogeneity : Pareto Distributions of Homothetic Preference Scales and Aggregate Expenditures Income Elasticities," Working Papers 2017-11, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    2. Herings, P.J.J. & Kubler, F., 1999. "The Robustness of the CAPM - A Computational Approach," Other publications TiSEM 06a4e5b2-f380-4d5b-a96f-8, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    3. Shogren, Jason F., 2006. "Experimental Methods and Valuation," Handbook of Environmental Economics, in: K. G. Mäler & J. R. Vincent (ed.), Handbook of Environmental Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 19, pages 969-1027, Elsevier.
    4. Jose Apesteguia & Miguel Ballester, 2009. "A theory of reference-dependent behavior," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 40(3), pages 427-455, September.
    5. Matthey, Astrid, 2005. "Getting used to risks: Reference dependence and risk inclusion," SFB 649 Discussion Papers 2005-036, Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk.
    6. Oben K Bayrak & Bengt Kriström, 2016. "Is there a valuation gap? The case of interval valuations," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 36(1), pages 218-236.
    7. repec:ken:wpaper:0601 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Meyer, Donald J. & Meyer, Jack, 2005. "Risk preferences in multi-period consumption models, the equity premium puzzle, and habit formation utility," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(8), pages 1497-1515, November.
    9. Michael J. Best & Robert R. Grauer, 2017. "Humans, Econs and Portfolio Choice," Quarterly Journal of Finance (QJF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 7(02), pages 1-30, June.
    10. Morrison, Gwendolyn C., 2000. "WTP and WTA in repeated trial experiments: Learning or leading?," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 57-72, February.
    11. Krahnen, Jan Pieter & Rieck, Christian & Theissen, Erik, 1997. "Messung individueller Risikoeinstellungen," CFS Working Paper Series 1997/03, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    12. Jacobs Martin, 2016. "Accounting for Changing Tastes: Approaches to Explaining Unstable Individual Preferences," Review of Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 67(2), pages 121-183, August.
    13. Russell, Thomas, 1995. "Aggregation, heterogeneity, and the Coase invariance theorem," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 105-111, May.
    14. repec:dau:papers:123456789/6360 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. repec:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2005-036 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Daniel McFadden, 2014. "The new science of pleasure: consumer choice behavior and the measurement of well-being," Chapters, in: Stephane Hess & Andrew Daly (ed.), Handbook of Choice Modelling, chapter 2, pages 7-48, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    17. Anjan Mukherji, 2012. "The second fundamental theorem of positive economics," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 8(2), pages 125-138, June.
    18. Gaël Giraud & Isabelle Maret, 2007. "The Exact Insensitivity of Market Budget Shares and the "Balancing Effect"," Working Papers halshs-00155753, HAL.
    19. Hammarlid, Ola, 2005. "When to accept a sequence of gambles," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(8), pages 974-982, December.
    20. Pierre-André Chiappori & Ivar Ekeland & Felix Kübler & Heracles M. Polemarchakis, 1999. "The Identification of Preferences from Equilibrium Prices," Working Papers hal-00598229, HAL.
    21. Gaël GIRAUD & Isabelle MARET, 2005. "The Exact Insensitivity of Market Budget Shares and the 'Balancing Effect'," Working Papers of BETA 2005-02, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    22. Dennis Dittrich & Werner Guth & Boris Maciejovsky, 2005. "Overconfidence in investment decisions: An experimental approach," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(6), pages 471-491.
    23. Alan Kirman, 2006. "Heterogeneity in Economics," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 1(1), pages 89-117, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:buecrs:v:55:y:2003:i:4:p:357-371. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0307-3378 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.