Preferences with grades of indecisiveness

Stefania Minardi and Andrei Savochkin

Journal of Economic Theory, 2015, vol. 155, issue C, 300-331

Abstract: Departing from the traditional approach of modeling indecisiveness based on the weakening of the completeness axiom, we introduce the notion of graded preferences: The agent is characterized by a binary relation over (ordered) pairs of alternatives, which allows her to express her inclination to prefer one alternative over another and her confidence in the relative superiority of the indicated alternative. In the classical Anscombe–Aumann framework, we derive a representation of a graded preference by a measure of the set of beliefs that rank one option better than the other. Our model is a refinement of Bewley's [6] model of Knightian uncertainty: It is based on the same object of representation — the set of beliefs — but provides more information about how the agent compares alternatives.

Keywords: Incomplete preferences; Knightian uncertainty; Graded preferences; Confidence; Decisiveness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D81 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Preferences with grades of indecisiveness (2015)
Working Paper: Preferences With Grades of Indecisiveness (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jetheo:v:155:y:2015:i:c:p:300-331

DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2014.11.009

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