Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Representation of Preferences

  • Chapter
Utility and Probability

Part of the book series: The New Palgrave ((NPA))

Abstract

Three facets of subjective preferences have played central roles in economics. They are the qualitative structure of an agent’s preferences, numerical representations of preferences, and the use of numerical representations or utility functions in economic analysis. We consider various representations and their ties to qualitative preference structures.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Bibliography

  • Allais, M. 1953. Le comportement de l’homme rationnel devant le risque: critique des postulats et axiomes de l’école Américaine. Econometrica 21, 503–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bernoulli, D. 1738. Specimen theoriae novae de mensura sortis. Commentarii Academiae Scientarium Imperialis Petropolitanae 5, 175–92. Trans. L. Sommer, Econometrica 22, (1954), 23–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cantor, G. 1895. Beiträge zur Begrùdung der Transfinite Mengenlehre. Mathematische Annalen 46, 481–512 and 49 (1897), 207–46. English translation: Contributions to the Founding of the Theory of Transfinite Numbers. New York: Dover, n.d.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chew, S.H. 1983. A generalization of the quasilinear mean with applications to the measurement of income inequality and decision theory resolving the Allais paradox. Econometrica 51, 1065–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chipman, J.S. 1960. The foundations of utility. Econometrica 28, 193–224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Debreu, G. 1964. Continuity properties of Paretian utility. International Economic Review 5, 285–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Debreu, G. and Koopmans, T.C. 1982. Additively decomposed quasiconvex functions. Mathematical Programming 24, 1–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Finetti, B. 1937. La prévision: ses logiques, ses sources subjectives. Annales de l’ Institut Henri Poincaré 7, 1–68. Trans, by H.E. Kyburg in Studies in Subjective Probability, ed. H.E. Kyburg and H.E. Smokier, New York: Wiley, 1964, 93–158.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dyer, J.S. and Sarin, R.K. 1979. Measurable multiattribute value functions. Operations Research 27, 810–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellsberg, D. 1961. Risk, ambiguity, and the Savage axioms. Quarterly Journal of Economics 75, 643–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farquhar, P.H. 1975. A fractional hypercube decomposition theorem for multiattribute utility functions. Operations Research 23, 941–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farquhar, P.H. 1978. Interdependent criteria in utility analysis. In Multiple Criteria Problem Solving, ed. S. Zionts, Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 131–80.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Fishburn, P.C. 1970a. Utility Theory for Decision Making. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fishburn, P.C. 1970b. Intransitive indifference in preference theory: a survey. Operations Research 18, 207–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fishburn, P.C. 1974. Lexicographic orders, utilities, and decision rules: a survey. Management Science 20, 1442–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fishburn, P.C. 1977. Multiattribute utilities in expected utility theory. In Conflicting Objectives in Decisions, ed. D.E. Bell, R.L. Keeney and H. Raiffa, New York: Wiley, 172–94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fishburn, P.C. 1980. Lexicographic additive differences. Journal of Mathematical Psychology 21, 191–218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fishburn, P.C. 1981. Subjective expected utility: a review of normative theories. Theory and Decision 13, 139–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fishburn, P.C. 1982a. The Foundations of Expected Utility. Dordrecht, Holland: Reidel.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Fishburn, P.C. 1982b. Nontransitive measurable utility. Journal of Mathematical Psychology 26, 31–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fishburn, P.C. 1983. Transitive measurable utility. Journal of Economic Theory 31, 293–317.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fishburn, P.C. 1984. SSB utility theory and decision–making under uncertainty. Mathematical Social Sciences 8, 253–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fishburn, P.C. 1985. Interval Orders and Interval Graphs. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fishburn, P.C. and Farquhar, P.H. 1982. Finite–degree utility independence. Mathematics of Operations Research 7, 348–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fishburn, P.C. and Rubinstein, A. 1982. Time preference. International Economic Review 23, 677–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Houthakker, H.S. 1961. The present state of consumption theory. Econometrica 29,704–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman, D. and Tversky, A. 1979. Prospect theory: an analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica 47, 263–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keeney, R.L. and Raiffa, H. 1976. Decisions with Multiple Objectives: Preferences and Value Tradeoffs. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirkwood, C.W. and Sarin, R.K. 1980. Preference conditions for multiattribute value functions. Operations Research 28, 225–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koopmans, T.C. 1960. Stationary ordinal utility and impatience. Econometrica 28,287–309.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koopmans, T.C, Diamond, P.A. and Williamson, R.E. 1964. Stationary utility and time perspective. Econometrica 32, 82–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krantz, D.H., Luce, R.D., Suppes, P. and Tversky, A. 1971. Foundations of Measurement. Volume I: Additive and Polynomial Representations. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loomes, G. and Sugden, R. 1982. Regret theory: an alternative theory of rational choice under uncertainty. Economic Journal 92, 805–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luce, R.D. 1978. Lexicographic tradeoff structures. Theory and Decision 9, 187–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Machina, M.J. 1982. ‘Expected utility’ analysis without the independence axiom, Econometrica 50, 277–323.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mas-Colell, A. 1974. An equilibrium existence theorem without complete or transitive preferences. Journal of Mathematical Economics 1, 237–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Samuelson, P.A. 1947. Foundations of Economic Analysis. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Savage, L.J. 1954. The Foundations of Statistics. New York: Wiley. 2nd rev. edn, Dover Publications, 1972.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmeidler, D. 1984. Subjective probability and expected utility without additivity. Preprint no. 84, Institute for Mathematics and its Applications, University of Minnesota.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sondermann, D. 1980. Utility representations for partial orders. Journal of Economic Theory 23, 183–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stigler, G.J. 1950. The development of utility theory I, II. Journal of Political Economy 58, 307–27; 373–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tversky, A. 1969. Intransitivity of preferences. Psychological Review 76, 31–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • von Neumann, J. and Morgenstern, O. 1944. Theory of Games and Economic Behavior. Princeton: Princeton University Press; 2nd edn, 1947; 3rd edn, 1953.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Peter C. Fishburn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

John Eatwell Murray Milgate Peter Newman

Copyright information

© 1990 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Fishburn, P.C. (1990). Representation of Preferences. In: Eatwell, J., Milgate, M., Newman, P. (eds) Utility and Probability. The New Palgrave. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20568-4_29

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation