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Harry Markowitz’s contributions to utility theory

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  • Jack Clark Francis

    (Bernard Baruch College)

Abstract

Harry Markowitz is widely recognized to be the father of portfolio theory. But, for unknown reasons, his substantial contributions to utility theory are less well-known. Daniel Bernoulli is widely renowned for explaining the Saint Petersburg paradox. Most people recognize Adam Smith as being the father of capitalism. Some people are aware that Carl Menger (1840–1921) was one of the first to discuss (in German) diminishing marginal utility. Jules Dupuit (1804–1866) distinguished between total utility and marginal utility and, in the process, he went on to discover the consumers’ surplus. Although it is not widely recognized, Herman Heinrich Gossen (1810–1858) was the first economists to explain that the fundamental principle of marginal utility theory is that a person maximizes his utility when he distributes his available money among the various goods so that he obtains the same amount of satisfaction from the last unit of money spent on each different commodity. After explaining the Saint Petersburg paradox earlier in his career comma, Daniel Bernoulli later brought many utility suggestions together into one tidy package, and even went on to suggest that decision-maker’s decisions can probably be best represented by the logarithmic utility function. Each one of the previous contributions to utility theory constitutes a significant improvement in the previous theory. But in 1952 Harry Markowitz published several suggestions that each represented a significant advancement to the existing utility theory. The value of Markowitz’s suggestions was acknowledged in 1979 and 1992 by two psychologists named Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky when they introduced their prospect theory. These co-authors list and discuss several of Markowitz’s contributions to expected utility theory in their 1979 prospect theory paper.

Suggested Citation

  • Jack Clark Francis, 2025. "Harry Markowitz’s contributions to utility theory," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 346(1), pages 113-125, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:annopr:v:346:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s10479-024-06210-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10479-024-06210-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Henry Allen Latane, 1959. "Criteria for Choice Among Risky Ventures," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 67(2), pages 144-144.
    2. Tversky, Amos & Kahneman, Daniel, 1992. "Advances in Prospect Theory: Cumulative Representation of Uncertainty," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 5(4), pages 297-323, October.
    3. Jack Clark Francis, 2021. "Reformulating prospect theory to become a von Neumann–Morgenstern theory," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 965-985, April.
    4. Harry Markowitz, 1952. "The Utility of Wealth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 60(2), pages 151-151.
    5. Pratt, John W & Zeckhauser, Richard J, 1987. "Proper Risk Aversion," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(1), pages 143-154, January.
    6. Samuelson, Paul A & Merton, Robert C, 1974. "Generalized Mean-Variance Tradeoffs for Best Perturbation Corrections to Approximate Portfolio Decisions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 29(1), pages 27-40, March.
    7. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    8. Jack Clark Francis, 2022. "Cube Root Utility Theory," Springer Books, in: Cheng-Few Lee & Alice C. Lee (ed.), Encyclopedia of Finance, edition 0, chapter 83, pages 1939-1962, Springer.
    9. William F. Sharpe, 1964. "Capital Asset Prices: A Theory Of Market Equilibrium Under Conditions Of Risk," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 19(3), pages 425-442, September.
    10. Nicholas C. Barberis, 2013. "Thirty Years of Prospect Theory in Economics: A Review and Assessment," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 27(1), pages 173-196, Winter.
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