IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_12091.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

On the Existence of Recursive Utility

Author

Listed:
  • Asen Kochov

Abstract

Recursive utility functions are often defined implicitly, as the solution of a functional equation known as the Koopmans recursion. As conditions for a unique solution can be demanding, a recent literature has tackled the problem of multiplicity, advocating that one focus attention on either the least or greatest solution, which possess a number of attractive properties. While a least solution can be shown to exist, I show that in the most general formulation of the problem, a greatest solution need not. The goal of the paper is to provide a sufficient condition for the existence of a greatest solution, which I term the weakly contractive property and which generalizes the usual contractive property sufficient for uniqueness.

Suggested Citation

  • Asen Kochov, 2025. "On the Existence of Recursive Utility," CESifo Working Paper Series 12091, CESifo.
  • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12091
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ifo.de/DocDL/cesifo1_wp12091.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Le Van, Cuong & Vailakis, Yiannis, 2005. "Recursive utility and optimal growth with bounded or unbounded returns," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 123(2), pages 187-209, August.
    2. Lucas, Robert Jr. & Stokey, Nancy L., 1984. "Optimal growth with many consumers," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 139-171, February.
    3. Massimo Marinacci & Luigi Montrucchio, 2019. "Unique Tarski Fixed Points," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(4), pages 1174-1191, November.
    4. Bloise, Gaetano & Vailakis, Yiannis, 2018. "Convex dynamic programming with (bounded) recursive utility," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 118-141.
    5. Łukasz Balbus, 2020. "On recursive utilities with non-affine aggregator and conditional certainty equivalent," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 70(2), pages 551-577, September.
    6. Peter A. Streufert, 1990. "Stationary Recursive Utility and Dynamic Programming under the Assumption of Biconvergence," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 57(1), pages 79-97.
    7. Becker, Robert A. & Rincón-Zapatero, Juan Pablo, 2021. "Thompson aggregators, Scott continuous Koopmans operators, and Least Fixed Point theory," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 84-97.
    8. Marinacci, Massimo & Montrucchio, Luigi, 2010. "Unique solutions for stochastic recursive utilities," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 145(5), pages 1776-1804, September.
    9. Gaetano Bloise & Cuong Le Van & Yiannis Vailakis, 2024. "Do not Blame Bellman: It Is Koopmans' Fault," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-04928565, HAL.
    10. Gaetano Bloise & Cuong Le Van & Yiannis Vailakis, 2024. "Do not Blame Bellman: It Is Koopmans' Fault," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 92(1), pages 111-140, January.
    11. Gaetano Bloise & Cuong Le Van & Yiannis Vailakis, 2024. "Do not Blame Bellman: It Is Koopmans' Fault," Post-Print halshs-04928565, HAL.
    12. Boud, John III, 1990. "Recursive utility and the Ramsey problem," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 326-345, April.
    13. Cuong Le Van & Yiannis Vailakis, 2005. "Recursive utility and optimal growth with bounded or unbounded returns," Post-Print halshs-00101201, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bloise, G. & Van, C. Le & Vailakis, Y., 2024. "An approximation approach to dynamic programming with unbounded returns," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    2. Becker, Robert A. & Rincón-Zapatero, Juan Pablo, 2021. "Thompson aggregators, Scott continuous Koopmans operators, and Least Fixed Point theory," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 84-97.
    3. Jaroslav Borovička & John Stachurski, 2020. "Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for Existence and Uniqueness of Recursive Utilities," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(3), pages 1457-1493, June.
    4. Bloise, Gaetano & Vailakis, Yiannis, 2018. "Convex dynamic programming with (bounded) recursive utility," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 118-141.
    5. Philippe Bich & Jean-Pierre Drugeon & Lisa Morhaim, 2018. "On temporal aggregators and dynamic programming," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 66(3), pages 787-817, October.
    6. Guanlong Ren & John Stachurski, 2018. "Dynamic Programming with Recursive Preferences: Optimality and Applications," Papers 1812.05748, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2020.
    7. Christensen, Timothy M., 2022. "Existence and uniqueness of recursive utilities without boundedness," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    8. Robert Becker & Juan Pablo Rincon-Zapatero, 2018. "Recursive Utility and Thompson Aggregators, II: Uniqueness of the Recursive Utility Representation," CAEPR Working Papers 2018-008, Center for Applied Economics and Policy Research, Department of Economics, Indiana University Bloomington.
    9. Robert Becker & Juan Pablo Rincon-Zapatero, 2018. "Recursive Utility and Thompson Aggregators, I: Constructive Existence Theory for the Koopmans Equation," CAEPR Working Papers 2018-006, Center for Applied Economics and Policy Research, Department of Economics, Indiana University Bloomington.
    10. Thomas J. Sargent & John Stachurski, 2024. "Dynamic Programming: Finite States," Papers 2401.10473, arXiv.org.
    11. Robert A. Becker & Juan Pablo Rincón-Zapatero, 2017. "Arbitration and Renegotiation in Trade Agreements," CAEPR Working Papers 2017-007, Center for Applied Economics and Policy Research, Department of Economics, Indiana University Bloomington.
    12. Anna Jaśkiewicz & Janusz Matkowski & Andrzej Nowak, 2014. "On variable discounting in dynamic programming: applications to resource extraction and other economic models," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 220(1), pages 263-278, September.
    13. Philippe Bich & Jean-Pierre Drugeon & Lisa Morhaim, 2018. "On Temporal Aggregators and Dynamic Programming," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-01437496, HAL.
    14. Luca De Gennaro Aquino & Sascha Desmettre & Yevhen Havrylenko & Mogens Steffensen, 2024. "Equilibrium control theory for Kihlstrom-Mirman preferences in continuous time," Papers 2407.16525, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2024.
    15. Gaetano Bloise & Cuong Le Van & Yiannis Vailakis, 2024. "Do not Blame Bellman: It Is Koopmans' Fault," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 92(1), pages 111-140, January.
    16. Philippe Bich & Jean-Pierre Drugeon & Lisa Morhaim, 2015. "On Aggregators and Dynamic Programming," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-01169552, HAL.
    17. Balbus, Łukasz & Reffett, Kevin & Woźny, Łukasz, 2022. "Time-consistent equilibria in dynamic models with recursive payoffs and behavioral discounting," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    18. Stachurski, John & Wilms, Ole & Zhang, Junnan, 2024. "Asset pricing with time preference shocks: Existence and uniqueness," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    19. Philippe Bich & Jean-Pierre Drugeon & Lisa Morhaim, 2015. "On Aggregators and Dynamic Programming," Post-Print halshs-01169552, HAL.
    20. Sabarwal, Tarun, 2025. "General theory of equilibrium in models with complementarities," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • C6 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling
    • D9 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12091. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.