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All probabilities are equal, but some probabilities are more equal than others

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Listed:
  • Christina Letsou

    (Boston College)

  • Shlomo Naeh

    (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

  • Uzi Segal

    (Boston College)

Abstract

A common procedure for selecting people is to have them draw balls from an urn in turn. Modern and ancient stories suggest that such lotteries may be viewed by the individuals as “unfair.” We compare this procedure with several alternatives. They all give individuals equal chance of being selected, but have different structures. We an- alyze these procedures as multistage lotteries. In line with previous literature, our analysis is based on the observation that multistage lotteries are not considered indifferent to their probabilistic one-stage representations. We use a non-expected utility model and show that individuals have preferences over the different procedures.

Suggested Citation

  • Christina Letsou & Shlomo Naeh & Uzi Segal, 2020. "All probabilities are equal, but some probabilities are more equal than others," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 998, Boston College Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:boc:bocoec:998
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    Cited by:

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    2. Jianjun Miao, 2022. "Introduction to the special issue in honor of Larry Epstein," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 74(2), pages 329-333, September.
    3. Zhuzhu Zhou, 2024. "Ranking blame," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 78(2), pages 403-441, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fair lotteries; non-expected utility; multi-stage lotteries;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

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