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Utility Theory Front To Back — Inferring Utility From Agents' Choices

Author

Listed:
  • ALEXANDER M. G. COX

    (Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, United Kingdom)

  • DAVID HOBSON

    (Department of Statistics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom)

  • JAN OBłÓJ

    (Mathematical Institute and Oxford–Man Institute of Quantitative Finance, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3LB, United Kingdom)

Abstract

We pursue an inverse approach to utility theory and associated consumption and investment problems. Instead of specifying a utility function and deriving the actions of an agent, we assume that we observe the actions of the agent (i.e. consumption and investment strategies) and ask if it is possible to derive a utility function for which the observed behavior is optimal. We work in continuous time both in a deterministic and stochastic setting. In the deterministic setup, we find that there are infinitely many utility functions generating a given consumption pattern. In the stochastic setting of a geometric Brownian motion market it turns out that the consumption and investment strategies have to satisfy a consistency condition (PDE) if they are to come from a classical utility maximization problem. We show further that important characteristics of the agent such as risk attitudes (e.g., DARA) can be deduced directly from the agent's consumption and investment choices.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexander M. G. Cox & David Hobson & Jan Obłój, 2014. "Utility Theory Front To Back — Inferring Utility From Agents' Choices," International Journal of Theoretical and Applied Finance (IJTAF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 17(03), pages 1-44.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:ijtafx:v:17:y:2014:i:03:n:s0219024914500186
    DOI: 10.1142/S0219024914500186
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    Cited by:

    1. Sigrid Källblad & Jan Obłój & Thaleia Zariphopoulou, 2018. "Dynamically consistent investment under model uncertainty: the robust forward criteria," Finance and Stochastics, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 879-918, October.

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