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Lipschitz Bernoulli Utility Functions

Author

Listed:
  • Efe A. Ok

    (Department of Economics and Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, New York, New York 10012)

  • Nik Weaver

    (Department of Mathematics, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130)

Abstract

We obtain several variants of the classic von Neumann–Morgenstern expected utility theorem with and without the completeness axiom in which the derived Bernoulli utility functions are Lipschitz. The prize space in these results is an arbitrary separable metric space, and the utility functions are allowed to be unbounded. The main ingredient of our results is a novel (behavioral) axiom on the underlying preference relations, which is satisfied by virtually all stochastic orders. The proof of the main representation theorem is built on the fact that the dual of the Kantorovich–Rubinstein space is (isometrically isomorphic to) the Banach space of Lipschitz functions that vanish at a fixed point. An application to the theory of nonexpected utility is also provided.

Suggested Citation

  • Efe A. Ok & Nik Weaver, 2023. "Lipschitz Bernoulli Utility Functions," Mathematics of Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 48(2), pages 728-747, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormoor:v:48:y:2023:i:2:p:728-747
    DOI: 10.1287/moor.2022.1270
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Cited by:

    1. Stelios Arvanitis, 2025. "Universal Choice Spaces and Expected Utility: A Banach-type Functorial Fixed Point," Working Paper 1534, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    2. Joseph Root & Evan Sadler, 2026. "A Theory of Network Games Part 1: Utility Representations," Papers 2602.16071, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2026.
    3. Leonetti, Paolo, 2025. "Expected multi-utility representations of preferences over lotteries," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).

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