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A Theory of Regret and Information

Author

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  • Emmanuelle Gabillon

Abstract

Following Quiguin (1994), we propose a general model of preferences that accounts for individuals\' regret concerns. By confronting the commonly-accepted additive and multiplicative regret utility functions to this model, we establish certain characteristics that these utility functions require to be in conformity with our preferences model. Equally, as regret is intrinsically related to the concept of information about the foregone alternatives, we generalize our framework so that it can accomodate any information structure. We show that the less informative that structure is, the higher the utility of a regretful individual. This result means that an individual prefers not to be exposed to ex post information about the foregone alternatives. We also focus on information value, and consider two cases. That of flexibility, where information arrives before the choice and can be used to determine the optimal strategy; that of non-flexibility, where information arrives after the choice. We show that information value is negative when there is no flexibility, and that it can also be negative when there is flexibility.

Suggested Citation

  • Emmanuelle Gabillon, 2011. "A Theory of Regret and Information," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2011-15, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
  • Handle: RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2011-15
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    File URL: http://cahiersdugretha.u-bordeaux.fr/2011/2011-15.pdf
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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Information with negative value
      by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2011-05-06 19:51:00

    More about this item

    Keywords

    regret; information; choice under uncertainty; bivariate risk aversion;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

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    1. Economic Logic blog

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