Econometrica

Journal Of The Econometric Society

An International Society for the Advancement of Economic
Theory in its Relation to Statistics and Mathematics

Edited by: Guido W. Imbens • Print ISSN: 0012-9682 • Online ISSN: 1468-0262

Econometrica: Jul, 1983, Volume 51, Issue 4

On State Dependent Preferences and Subjective Probabilities

https://doi.org/0012-9682(198307)51:4<1021:OSDPAS>2.0.CO;2-M
p. 1021-1032

David Schmeidler, Edi Karni, Karl Vind

This paper presents an expected utility theory for state-dependent preferences. It proposes axioms that permit the joint derivation of subjective probabilities and utilities when the decision maker's preferences are not independent of the prevailing state of nature. In addition to the usual von Neumann-Morgenstern axioms, these axioms also include the requirement that the decision-maker's actual preferences are consistent with his preferences contingent on an hypothetical probability distribution over the states of nature. Two versions of the consistency axiom are introduced and their significance in the context of Bayesian decision theory is discussed.


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