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Sensitivity Analysis of Risk Tolerance

Author

Listed:
  • Bjørn Sandvik

    (Department of Economics, University of Bergen, N-5007 Bergen, Norway)

  • Lars Thorlund-Petersen

    (Bodø Graduate School of Business, N-8049 Bodø, Norway)

Abstract

For a risk-averse decision maker with exponential utility facing a decision between two investments X and Y , there may exist more than one critical value of risk tolerance for which the decision is reversed from one investment to the other. Our main result establishes that if Y is preferred to X by all risk-seeking decision makers, then there is at most one such critical value. We extend this result to linear plus exponential utility functions. The results reduce the input required from a decision maker.

Suggested Citation

  • Bjørn Sandvik & Lars Thorlund-Petersen, 2010. "Sensitivity Analysis of Risk Tolerance," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 7(3), pages 313-321, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:inm:ordeca:v:7:y:2010:i:3:p:313-321
    DOI: 10.1287/deca.1100.0183
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Wang, Jianli & Li, Jingyuan, 2014. "Decreasing Ross risk aversion: Higher-order generalizations and implications," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 136-142.
    2. Dionne, Georges & Li, Jingyuan, 2014. "Comparative Ross risk aversion in the presence of mean dependent risks," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 128-135.
    3. Andrea C. Hupman & Jay Simon, 2023. "The Legacy of Peter Fishburn: Foundational Work and Lasting Impact," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 20(1), pages 1-15, March.
    4. L. Robin Keller, 2010. "From the Editor..," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 7(3), pages 235-237, September.
    5. Denuit, Michel M. & Eeckhoudt, Louis & Schlesinger, Harris, 2013. "When Ross meets Bell: The linex utility function," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 177-182.
    6. L. Robin Keller & Kelly M. Kophazi, 2011. "From the Editors---Deterrence, Multiattribute Utility, and Probability and Bayes' Updating," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 8(2), pages 83-87, June.
    7. Zhang, Jing & Zhuang, Jun & Jose, Victor Richmond R., 2018. "The role of risk preferences in a multi-target defender-attacker resource allocation game," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 95-104.
    8. Chin Hon Tan, 2015. "Weighted Almost Stochastic Dominance: Revealing the Preferences of Most Decision Makers in the St. Petersburg Paradox," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 12(2), pages 74-80, June.
    9. Georges Dionne & Jingyuan Li, 2012. "Comparative Ross Risk Aversion in the Presence of Quadrant Dependent Risks," Cahiers de recherche 1226, CIRPEE.

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