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Expected Utility as a Paradigm for Decision Making in Agriculture

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Book cover A Comprehensive Assessment of the Role of Risk in U.S. Agriculture

Part of the book series: Natural Resource Management and Policy ((NRMP,volume 23))

Abstract

The assumption that a decision maker maximizes expected utility has been, and still is, a frequently employed model specification. This is true in economics and in agricultural economics. Decision models, where maximization of expected utility is the goal of the decision maker, have developed significantly during the forty or so years they have been in use. There now exists a substantial set of definitions, theorems, and empirical procedures available to those applying this paradigm. The goal of this chapter is to briefly describe the development of this expected utility (EU) decision model and to describe in some detail its current state.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Michigan State University, USA

    Jack Meyer

Authors
  1. Jack Meyer
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Maryland, College Park, USA

    Richard E. Just

  2. Brigham Young University, USA

    Rulon D. Pope

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© 2002 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Meyer, J. (2002). Expected Utility as a Paradigm for Decision Making in Agriculture. In: Just, R.E., Pope, R.D. (eds) A Comprehensive Assessment of the Role of Risk in U.S. Agriculture. Natural Resource Management and Policy, vol 23. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-3583-3_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-3583-3_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-4924-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-3583-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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