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Subjective Expected Utility Through Stochastic Independence

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  • Michel Grabisch

    (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

  • Benjamin Monet

    (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Vassili Vergopoulos

    (LEMMA - Laboratoire d'économie mathématique et de microéconomie appliquée - Université Paris-Panthéon-Assas)

Abstract

This paper studies decision-making in the face of two stochastically independent sources of uncertainty. It characterizes axiomatically a Subjective Expected Utility representation of preferences where subjective beliefs consist of a product probability measure. The two key axioms in this characterization both involve some behavioral notions of stochastic independence. Our result can be understood as a purely subjective version of the Anscombe and Aumann (1963) theorem that avoids the controversial use of exogenous probabilities by appealing to stochastic independence. We also obtain an extension to Choquet Expected Utility representations.

Suggested Citation

  • Michel Grabisch & Benjamin Monet & Vassili Vergopoulos, 2023. "Subjective Expected Utility Through Stochastic Independence," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-03901731, HAL.
  • Handle: RePEc:hal:pseptp:halshs-03901731
    DOI: 10.1007/s00199-022-01476-8
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-03901731v1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    subjective probability; expected utility; stochastic independence; subjective independence; capacity; Choquet expectation.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty

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