Modifying the Mean-Variance Approach to Avoid Violations of Stochastic Dominance

Pavlo R. Blavatskyy ()
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Pavlo R. Blavatskyy: Institute of Public Finance, University of Innsbruck, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria

Management Science, 2010, vol. 56, issue 11, pages 2050-2057

Abstract: The mean-variance approach is an influential theory of decision under risk proposed by Markowitz (Markowitz, H. 1952. Portfolio selection. J. Finance 7(1) 77-91). The mean-variance approach implies violations of first-order stochastic dominance not commonly observed in the data. This paper proposes a new model in the spirit of the classical mean-variance approach without violations of stochastic dominance. The proposed model represents preferences by a functional U(L) - \rho \cdot r(L), where U(L) denotes the expected utility of lottery L, \rho \in [-1, 1] is a subjective constant, and r(L) is the mean absolute (utility) semideviation of lottery L. The model comprises a linear trade-off between expected utility and utility dispersion. The model can accommodate several behavioral regularities such as the Allais paradox and switching behavior in Samuelson's example.

Keywords: mean-variance approach; expected utility; risk; utility dispersion; decision theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:56:y:2010:i:11:p:2050-2057

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