IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/psewpa/halshs-00648884.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Entropy and the value of information for investors

Author

Listed:
  • Antonio Cabrales

    (Departamento de Economía - UC3M - Universidad Carlos III de Madrid [Madrid])

  • Olivier Gossner

    (PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, LSE - London School of Economics and Political Science)

  • Roberto Serrano

    (Department of Economics - Brown University, Institute IMDEA Software [Madrid])

Abstract

Consider any investor who fears ruin when facing any set of investments that satisfy no-arbitrage. Before investing, he can purchase information about the state of nature in the form of an information structure. Given his prior, information structure $\alpha$ is more informative than information structure $\beta$ if, whenever he is willing to buy $\beta$ at some price, he is also willing to buy $\alpha$ at that price. We show that this informativeness ordering is complete and is represented by the decrease in entropy of his beliefs, regardless of his preferences, initial wealth, or investment problem. We also show that no prior-independent informativeness ordering based on similar premises exists.

Suggested Citation

  • Antonio Cabrales & Olivier Gossner & Roberto Serrano, 2011. "Entropy and the value of information for investors," PSE Working Papers halshs-00648884, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-00648884
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00648884
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00648884/document
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert J. Aumann & Roberto Serrano, 2008. "An Economic Index of Riskiness," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(5), pages 810-836, October.
    2. Thierry Post & Martijn J. van den Assem & Guido Baltussen & Richard H. Thaler, 2008. "Deal or No Deal? Decision Making under Risk in a Large-Payoff Game Show," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(1), pages 38-71, March.
    3. Olivier Gossner & Penélope Hernández & Abraham Neyman, 2006. "Optimal Use of Communication Resources," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(6), pages 1603-1636, November.
    4. Peng, Lin, 2005. "Learning with Information Capacity Constraints," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 40(2), pages 307-329, June.
    5. Gilboa, Itzhak & Lehrer, Ehud, 1991. "The value of information - An axiomatic approach," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 443-459.
    6. Dean P. Foster & Sergiu Hart, 2009. "An Operational Measure of Riskiness," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 117(5), pages 785-814.
    7. Charles A. Holt & Susan K. Laury, 2002. "Risk Aversion and Incentive Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1644-1655, December.
    8. Azrieli, Yaron & Lehrer, Ehud, 2008. "The value of a stochastic information structure," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 679-693, July.
    9. Olivier Gossner, 2011. "Simple bounds on the value of a reputation," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-00654683, HAL.
    10. Jacob Marschak, 1959. "Remarks on the Economics of Information," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 70, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    11. Alvaro Sandroni, 2000. "Do Markets Favor Agents Able to Make Accurate Predicitions?," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 68(6), pages 1303-1342, November.
    12. Athey, Susan & Levin, Jonathan, 2018. "The value of information in monotone decision problems," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 101-116.
    13. Olivier Gossner, 2011. "Simple Bounds on the Value of a Reputation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 79(5), pages 1627-1641, September.
    14. Bourguignon, Francois, 1979. "Decomposable Income Inequality Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(4), pages 901-920, July.
    15. Fabio Maccheroni & Massimo Marinacci & Aldo Rustichini, 2006. "Ambiguity Aversion, Robustness, and the Variational Representation of Preferences," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(6), pages 1447-1498, November.
    16. Olivier Gossner & Tristan Tomala, 2006. "Empirical Distributions of Beliefs Under Imperfect Observation," Post-Print hal-00487960, HAL.
    17. Sergiu Hart, 2011. "Comparing Risks by Acceptance and Rejection," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 119(4), pages 617-638.
    18. Binswanger, Hans P, 1981. "Attitudes toward Risk: Theoretical Implications of an Experiment in Rural India," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 91(364), pages 867-890, December.
    19. Sims, Christopher A., 2003. "Implications of rational inattention," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 665-690, April.
    20. Robert J. Aumann & Roberto Serrano, 2006. "An Economic Index of Riskiness," Working Papers 2006-20, Brown University, Department of Economics.
    21. Mas-Colell, Andreu & Whinston, Michael D. & Green, Jerry R., 1995. "Microeconomic Theory," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195102680.
    22. Nicola Persico, 2000. "Information Acquisition in Auctions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 68(1), pages 135-148, January.
    23. Olivier Gossner & Tristan Tomala, 2006. "Empirical Distributions of Beliefs Under Imperfect Observation," Mathematics of Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(1), pages 13-30, February.
    24. Blume, Lawrence & Easley, David, 1992. "Evolution and market behavior," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 9-40, October.
    25. Juan-JosÈ Ganuza & JosÈ S. Penalva, 2010. "Signal Orderings Based on Dispersion and the Supply of Private Information in Auctions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 78(3), pages 1007-1030, May.
    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. Antonio Cabrales & Olivier Gossner & Roberto Serrano, 2012. "The Appeal of Information Transactions," Working Papers 2012-13, Brown University, Department of Economics.
    2. Cabrales, Antonio & Gossner, Olivier & Serrano, Roberto, 2017. "A normalized value for information purchases," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 266-288.
    3. Steven Kou & Xianhua Peng, 2016. "On the Measurement of Economic Tail Risk," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 64(5), pages 1056-1072, October.
    4. Steven Kou & Xianhua Peng, 2014. "On the Measurement of Economic Tail Risk," Papers 1401.4787, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2015.
    5. Xiaosheng Mu & Luciano Pomatto & Philipp Strack & Omer Tamuz, 2021. "From Blackwell Dominance in Large Samples to Rényi Divergences and Back Again," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 89(1), pages 475-506, January.
    6. Heller, Yuval & Schreiber, Amnon, 2020. "Short-term investments and indices of risk," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 15(3), July.
    7. Maier, Johannes & Rüger, Maximilian, 2010. "Measuring Risk Aversion Model-Independently," Discussion Papers in Economics 11873, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    8. Niu, Cuizhen & Guo, Xu & McAleer, Michael & Wong, Wing-Keung, 2018. "Theory and application of an economic performance measure of risk," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 383-396.
    9. Enrico G. De Giorgi & David B. Brown & Melvyn Sim, 2010. "Dual representation of choice and aspirational preferences," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2010 2010-07, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen.
    10. Moti Michaeli, 2021. "On Measuring Welfare ‘Behind a Veil of Ignorance’," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 56(1), pages 57-66, January.
    11. Hellman, Ziv & Schreiber, Amnon, 2018. "Indexing gamble desirability by extending proportional stochastic dominance," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 523-543.
    12. Jiro Hodoshima & Toshiyuki Yamawake, 2022. "Comparing Dynamic and Static Performance Indexes in the Stock Market: Evidence From Japan," Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Springer;Japanese Association of Financial Economics and Engineering, vol. 29(2), pages 171-193, June.
    13. Samuel Drapeau & Michael Kupper, 2013. "Risk Preferences and Their Robust Representation," Mathematics of Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 38(1), pages 28-62, February.
    14. , & ,, 2015. "The Foster-Hart measure of riskiness for general gambles," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 10(1), January.
    15. Leiss, Matthias & Nax, Heinrich H., 2018. "Option-implied objective measures of market risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 241-249.
    16. Kadan, Ohad & Liu, Fang, 2014. "Performance evaluation with high moments and disaster risk," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(1), pages 131-155.
    17. Jianjun Miao, 2022. "Introduction to the special issue in honor of Larry Epstein," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 74(2), pages 329-333, September.
    18. Jiro Hodoshima & Toshiyuki Yamawake, 2021. "Sensitivity of Performance Indexes to Disaster Risk," Risks, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-22, February.
    19. Hodoshima, Jiro & Miyahara, Yoshio, 2020. "Utility indifference pricing and the Aumann–Serrano performance index," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 83-89.
    20. David B. Brown & Enrico De Giorgi & Melvyn Sim, 2012. "Aspirational Preferences and Their Representation by Risk Measures," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(11), pages 2095-2113, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Informativeness; Information structures; Entropy; Decision under uncertainty; Investment; Blackwell ordering;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C00 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - General - - - General
    • C43 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Index Numbers and Aggregation
    • D00 - Microeconomics - - General - - - General
    • D80 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - General
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • G00 - Financial Economics - - General - - - General
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions

    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:hal:psewpa:halshs-00648884. 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.