IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/2310.17517.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Safety, in Numbers

Author

Listed:
  • Marilyn Pease
  • Mark Whitmeyer

Abstract

We introduce a way to compare actions in decision problems. An action is safer than another if the set of beliefs at which the decision-maker prefers the safer action increases in size (in the set inclusion sense) as the decision-maker becomes more risk averse. We provide a full characterization of this relation and show that it is equivalent to a robust concept of single-crossing. We discuss applications to investment hedging, security design, and game theory.

Suggested Citation

  • Marilyn Pease & Mark Whitmeyer, 2023. "Safety, in Numbers," Papers 2310.17517, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2024.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2310.17517
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/2310.17517
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John C. Harsanyi & Reinhard Selten, 1988. "A General Theory of Equilibrium Selection in Games," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262582384, April.
    2. Aaron S. Edlin & Chris Shannon, 1998. "Strict Single Crossing and the Strict Spence-Mirrlees Condition: A Comment on Monotone Comparative Statics," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 66(6), pages 1417-1426, November.
    3. Ian Jewitt, 1987. "Risk Aversion and the Choice Between Risky Prospects: The Preservation of Comparative Statics Results," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 54(1), pages 73-85.
    4. Milgrom, Paul & Shannon, Chris, 1994. "Monotone Comparative Statics," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(1), pages 157-180, January.
    5. Eeckhoudt, Louis & Gollier, Christian & Schlesinger, Harris, 1996. "Changes in Background Risk and Risk-Taking Behavior," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(3), pages 683-689, May.
    6. Ross, Stephen A, 1981. "Some Stronger Measures of Risk Aversion in the Small and the Large with Applications," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(3), pages 621-638, May.
    7. Peter Klibanoff & Massimo Marinacci & Sujoy Mukerji, 2005. "A Smooth Model of Decision Making under Ambiguity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 73(6), pages 1849-1892, November.
    8. Kihlstrom, Richard E & Romer, David & Williams, Steve, 1981. "Risk Aversion with Random Initial Wealth," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(4), pages 911-920, June.
    9. Susan Athey, 2002. "Monotone Comparative Statics under Uncertainty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(1), pages 187-223.
    10. P. Battigalli & S. Cerreia‐Vioglio & F. Maccheroni & M. Marinacci, 2016. "A Note on Comparative Ambiguity Aversion and Justifiability," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 84, pages 1903-1916, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. repec:dau:papers:123456789/698 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Dana, Rose-Anne & Scarsini, Marco, 2007. "Optimal risk sharing with background risk," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 133(1), pages 152-176, March.
    3. Gollier Christian & Schlee Edward E, 2006. "Increased Risk-Bearing with Background Risk," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 6(1), pages 1-31, March.
    4. Christian Gollier & James Hammitt & Nicolas Treich, 2013. "Risk and choice: A research saga," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 129-145, October.
    5. Péter Esö & Lucy White, 2004. "Precautionary Bidding in Auctions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 72(1), pages 77-92, January.
    6. Marilyn Pease & Mark Whitmeyer, 2024. "How to Make an Action Better," Papers 2408.09294, arXiv.org, revised Sep 2024.
    7. Robert F. Nau, 2003. "A Generalization of Pratt-Arrow Measure to Nonexpected-Utility Preferences and Inseparable Probability and Utility," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(8), pages 1089-1104, August.
    8. Chassang, Sylvain, 2008. "Uniform selection in global games," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 139(1), pages 222-241, March.
    9. Hideki Iwaki & Yusuke Osaki, 2014. "The dual theory of the smooth ambiguity model," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 56(2), pages 275-289, June.
    10. Broll, Udo & Wong, Keith K.P., 2010. "The firm under uncertainty: capital structure and background risk," Dresden Discussion Paper Series in Economics 04/10, Technische Universität Dresden, Faculty of Business and Economics, Department of Economics.
    11. Finkelshtain, Israel & Kella, Offer & Scarsini, Marco, 1999. "On risk aversion with two risks," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 239-250, March.
    12. Kets, Willemien & Kager, Wouter & Sandroni, Alvaro, 2022. "The value of a coordination game," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    13. Keenan, Donald C. & Snow, Arthur, 2012. "Ross risk vulnerability for introductions and changes in background risk," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 197-206.
    14. Octave Jokung, 2013. "Changes in multiplicative background risk and risk-taking behavior," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 74(1), pages 127-149, January.
    15. Asano, Takao & Osaki, Yusuke, 2021. "Optimal investment under ambiguous technology shocks," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 293(1), pages 304-311.
    16. Hetschko, Clemens & Preuss, Malte, 2020. "Income in jeopardy: How losing employment affects the willingness to take risks," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    17. Miravete, Eugenio J. & Seim, Katja & Thurk, Jeff, 2023. "Pass-through and tax incidence in differentiated product markets," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    18. Franke, Guenter & Schlesinger, Harris & Stapleton, Richard C., 2011. "Risk taking with additive and multiplicative background risks," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 146(4), pages 1547-1568, July.
    19. Christian Gollier, 2014. "Optimal insurance design of ambiguous risks," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 57(3), pages 555-576, November.
    20. Li, Jingyuan & Liu, Dongri & Wang, Jianli, 2016. "Risk aversion with two risks: A theoretical extension," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 100-105.
    21. Kit Pong Wong, 1996. "Further results on comparative statics under uncertainty. A comment on Machnes," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 761-768, April.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:arx:papers:2310.17517. 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: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    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.