Completing the State Space with Subjective States

Author: Ozdenoren E.  

Publisher: Academic Press

ISSN: 0022-0531

Source: Journal of Economic Theory, Vol.105, Iss.2, 2002-08, pp. : 531-539

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Abstract

We define an opportunity act as a mapping from an exogenously given objective state space to a set of lotteries over prizes, and consider preferences over opportunity acts. We allow the preferences to be possibly uncertainty averse. Our main theorem provides an axiomatization of the maxmin expected utility model. In the theorem we construct subjective states to complete the objective state space. As in E. Dekel et al. (Econometrica, in press), we obtain a unique subjective state space. We also allow for preference for flexibility in some of the subjective states and commitment in others. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Number: D81.© 2001 Elsevier Science (USA)