The relatively new stream of research on various types of utilities is reviewed and discussed together with some of its implications. The distinction is explained among experienced utility, remembered utility and predicted utility as three candidates for decision utility. Examples of selected empirical findings are given which show discrepancies, first, between past experienced utility and remembered utility and, second, between predicted utility and actual future experienced utility. Some critical reactions to the findings are briefly mentioned as well as implications for the debate on some important moral issues such as paternalism and HIV testing. It is concluded that there may be some methodological doubts about the empirical evidence available so far but even so, the evidence indicates that the tendency of models in economics to work with "the" utility to be maximised may be an overly simplified picture of the actual process of evaluation of outcomes.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.
Publisher Info
Article provided by University of Economics, Prague in its journal Politická ekonomie.
Order Information: Postal: Redakce Politické ekonomie, Vysoká škola ekonomická, nám. W. Churchilla 4, 130 67 Praha 3 Email: Web: http://www.vse.cz/polek/
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Vaclav Subrta).