IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/theord/v81y2016i2d10.1007_s11238-015-9523-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Lexicographic expected utility without completeness

Author

Listed:
  • D. Borie

    (University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, GREDEG, CNRS)

Abstract

Standard theories of expected utility require that preferences are complete, and/or Archimedean. We present in this paper a theory of decision under uncertainty for both incomplete and non-Archimedean preferences. Without continuity assumptions, incomplete preferences on a lottery space reduce to an order-extension problem. It is well known that incomplete preferences can be extended to complete preferences in the full generality, but this result does not necessarily hold for incomplete preferences which satisfy the independence axiom, since it may obviously happen that the extension does not satisfy the independence axiom. We show, for incomplete preferences on a mixture space, that an extension which satisfies the independence axiom exists. We find necessary and sufficient conditions for a preorder on a finite lottery space to be representable by a family of lexicographic von Neumann–Morgenstern Expected Utility functions.

Suggested Citation

  • D. Borie, 2016. "Lexicographic expected utility without completeness," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 81(2), pages 167-176, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:theord:v:81:y:2016:i:2:d:10.1007_s11238-015-9523-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s11238-015-9523-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11238-015-9523-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11238-015-9523-y?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peter C. Fishburn, 1971. "A Study of Lexicographic Expected Utility," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(11), pages 672-678, July.
    2. Schmeidler, David, 1971. "A Condition for the Completeness of Partial Preference Relations," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 39(2), pages 403-404, March.
    3. Philippe Mongin, 2001. "A note on mixture sets in decision theory," Decisions in Economics and Finance, Springer;Associazione per la Matematica, vol. 24(1), pages 59-69, May.
    4. Mandler, Michael, 2005. "Incomplete preferences and rational intransitivity of choice," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 255-277, February.
    5. Juan Dubra & Fabio Maccheroni & Efe A. Ok, 2004. "Expected Utility Without the Completeness Axiom," Yale School of Management Working Papers ysm404, Yale School of Management.
    6. Baucells, Manel & Shapley, Lloyd S., 2008. "Multiperson utility," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 329-347, March.
    7. Dubra, Juan & Maccheroni, Fabio & Ok, Efe A., 2004. "Expected utility theory without the completeness axiom," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 118-133, March.
    8. Dubra, Juan, 2011. "Continuity and completeness under risk," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 80-81, January.
    9. Blume, Lawrence & Brandenburger, Adam & Dekel, Eddie, 1991. "Lexicographic Probabilities and Equilibrium Refinements," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(1), pages 81-98, January.
    10. Efe A. Ok & Pietro Ortoleva & Gil Riella, 2012. "Incomplete Preferences Under Uncertainty: Indecisiveness in Beliefs versus Tastes," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 80(4), pages 1791-1808, July.
    11. Galaabaatar, Tsogbadral & Karni, Edi, 2012. "Expected multi-utility representations," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 242-246.
    12. Özgür Evren, 2008. "On the existence of expected multi-utility representations," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 35(3), pages 575-592, June.
    13. Kreps, David M & Ramey, Garey, 1987. "Structural Consistency, Consistency, and Sequential Rationality," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(6), pages 1331-1348, November.
    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. McCarthy, David & Mikkola, Kalle & Thomas, Teruji, 2020. "Utilitarianism with and without expected utility," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 77-113.
    2. McCarthy, David & Mikkola, Kalle & Thomas, Teruji, 2016. "Utilitarianism with and without expected utility," MPRA Paper 72578, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. McCarthy, David & Mikkola, Kalle, 2018. "Continuity and completeness of strongly independent preorders," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 141-145.
    4. McCarthy, David & Mikkola, Kalle & Thomas, Teruji, 2017. "Representation of strongly independent preorders by vector-valued functions," MPRA Paper 80806, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. David McCarthy & Kalle Mikkola & Teruji Thomas, 2019. "Aggregation for potentially infinite populations without continuity or completeness," Papers 1911.00872, arXiv.org.
    6. Petri, Henrik, 2020. "Lexicographic probabilities and robustness," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 426-439.
    7. Russell, Jeffrey Sanford, 2020. "Non-Archimedean preferences over countable lotteries," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 180-186.

    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. David McCarthy & Kalle Mikkola & Teruji Thomas, 2019. "Aggregation for potentially infinite populations without continuity or completeness," Papers 1911.00872, arXiv.org.
    2. Özgür Evren, 2012. "Scalarization Methods and Expected Multi-Utility Representations," Working Papers w0174, Center for Economic and Financial Research (CEFIR).
    3. McCarthy, David & Mikkola, Kalle & Thomas, Teruji, 2017. "Representation of strongly independent preorders by sets of scalar-valued functions," MPRA Paper 79284, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. McCarthy, David & Mikkola, Kalle & Thomas, Teruji, 2021. "Expected utility theory on mixture spaces without the completeness axiom," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    5. McCarthy, David & Mikkola, Kalle, 2018. "Continuity and completeness of strongly independent preorders," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 141-145.
    6. Evren, Özgür, 2014. "Scalarization methods and expected multi-utility representations," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 30-63.
    7. Pivato, Marcus, 2013. "Multiutility representations for incomplete difference preorders," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 196-220.
    8. Galaabaatar, Tsogbadral & Khan, M. Ali & Uyanık, Metin, 2019. "Completeness and transitivity of preferences on mixture sets," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 49-62.
    9. Gorno, Leandro & Rivello, Alessandro T., 2023. "A maximum theorem for incomplete preferences," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    10. Leandro Gorno, 2018. "The structure of incomplete preferences," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 66(1), pages 159-185, July.
    11. Eric Danan & Thibault Gajdos & Jean-Marc Tallon, 2015. "Harsanyi's Aggregation Theorem with Incomplete Preferences," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 61-69, February.
    12. M. Ali Khan & Metin Uyanık, 2021. "Topological connectedness and behavioral assumptions on preferences: a two-way relationship," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 71(2), pages 411-460, March.
    13. Eric Danan, 2010. "Randomization vs. Selection: How to Choose in the Absence of Preference?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(3), pages 503-518, March.
    14. Aniruddha Ghosh & Mohammed Ali Khan & Metin Uyanik, 2022. "The Intermediate Value Theorem and Decision-Making in Psychology and Economics: An Expositional Consolidation," Games, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-24, July.
    15. Uyanik, Metin & Khan, M. Ali, 2022. "The continuity postulate in economic theory: A deconstruction and an integration," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    16. Galaabaatar, Tsogbadral & Karni, Edi, 2012. "Expected multi-utility representations," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 242-246.
    17. Tsogbadral Galaabaatar & Edi Karni, 2010. "Objective and Subjective Expected Utility with Incomplete Preferences," Economics Working Paper Archive 572, The Johns Hopkins University,Department of Economics.
    18. McCarthy, David & Mikkola, Kalle & Thomas, Teruji, 2020. "Utilitarianism with and without expected utility," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 77-113.
    19. Dino Borie, 2016. "Additively Separable Preferences Without the Completeness Axiom: An Algebraic Approach," GREDEG Working Papers 2016-11, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    20. McClellon, Morgan, 2016. "Confidence models of incomplete preferences," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 30-34.

    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:kap:theord:v:81:y:2016:i:2:d:10.1007_s11238-015-9523-y. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.