IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/lvl/lacicr/1024.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Impact of Prudence on Optimal Prevention Revisited

Author

Listed:
  • Jingyuan Li
  • Georges Dionne

Abstract

This paper re-examines the link between absolute prudence and self-protection activities. We show that the level of effort chosen by a prudent agent is larger than the optimal effort chosen by a risk-neutral agent if and only if the degree of absolute prudence is less than a threshold that is utility-independent. We explain this threshold by a trade-off between the variation of the variance and the level of the third moment of the loss distribution. We also discuss our result in terms of skewness. Our contribution extends the model of Eeckhoudt and Gollier (2005).

Suggested Citation

  • Jingyuan Li & Georges Dionne, 2010. "The Impact of Prudence on Optimal Prevention Revisited," Cahiers de recherche 1024, CIRPEE.
    • Handle: RePEc:lvl:lacicr:1024
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.cirpee.org/fileadmin/documents/Cahiers_2010/CIRPEE10-24.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kimball, Miles S, 1990. "Precautionary Saving in the Small and in the Large," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 58(1), pages 53-73, January.
    2. Menegatti, Mario, 2009. "Optimal prevention and prudence in a two-period model," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 393-397, November.
    3. Kaïs Dachraoui & Georges Dionne & Louis Eeckhoudt & Philippe Godfroid, 2004. "Comparative Mixed Risk Aversion: Definition and Application to Self-Protection and Willingness to Pay," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 261-276, December.
    4. Bruno Jullien & Bernard Salanié & François Salanié, 1999. "Should More Risk-Averse Agents Exert More Effort?," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 24(1), pages 19-28, June.
    5. W. Henry Chiu, 2005. "Skewness Preference, Risk Aversion, and the Precedence Relations on Stochastic Changes," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(12), pages 1816-1828, December.
    6. Louis Eeckhoudt & Harris Schlesinger, 2006. "Putting Risk in Its Proper Place," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(1), pages 280-289, March.
    7. Dionne, Georges & Eeckhoudt, Louis, 1985. "Self-insurance, self-protection and increased risk aversion," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 17(1-2), pages 39-42.
    8. Menezes, C & Geiss, C & Tressler, J, 1980. "Increasing Downside Risk," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(5), pages 921-932, December.
    9. Eeckhoudt, Louis & Etner, Johanna & Schroyen, Fred, 2009. "The values of relative risk aversion and prudence: A context-free interpretation," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 1-7, July.
    10. Wang, Jianli & Li, Jingyuan, 2010. "Multiplicative risk apportionment," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 79-81, July.
    11. Ehrlich, Isaac & Becker, Gary S, 1972. "Market Insurance, Self-Insurance, and Self-Protection," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(4), pages 623-648, July-Aug..
    12. White, Lucy, 2008. "Prudence in bargaining: The effect of uncertainty on bargaining outcomes," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 211-231, January.
    13. Dionne, Georges & Li, Jingyuan, 2011. "The impact of prudence on optimal prevention revisited," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 113(2), pages 147-149.
    14. Chiu, W.Henry, 2005. "Degree of downside risk aversion and self-protection," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 93-101, February.
    15. Kimball, Miles S, 1993. "Standard Risk Aversion," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 61(3), pages 589-611, May.
    16. Louis Eeckhoudt & Christian Gollier, 2005. "The impact of prudence on optimal prevention," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 26(4), pages 989-994, November.
    17. Hadar, Josef & Seo, Tae Kun, 1990. "The Effects of Shifts in a Return Distribution on Optimal Portfolios," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 31(3), pages 721-736, August.
    18. Choi, Gyemyung & Kim, Iltae & Snow, Arthur, 2001. "Comparative Statics Predictions for Changes in Uncertainty in the Portfolio and Savings Problems," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(1), pages 61-72, January.
    19. Gollier, Christian, 1996. "Decreasing absolute prudence: Characterization and applications to second-best risk sharing," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(9), pages 1799-1815, December.
    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. Christian Gollier & James Hammitt & Nicolas Treich, 2013. "Risk and choice: A research saga," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 129-145, October.
    2. Peter, Richard, 2017. "Optimal self-protection in two periods: On the role of endogenous saving," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 19-36.
    3. Tao Yuqing & Mei Jie & Cheng Wen & Zou Sijie, 2019. "Precautionaryriority Effort Investment under Cross Risk Aversion," Journal of Systems Science and Information, De Gruyter, vol. 7(4), pages 344-358, August.
    4. Jindapon, Paan, 2013. "Do risk lovers invest in self-protection?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 121(2), pages 290-293.
    5. Xue, Minggao & Cheng, Wen, 2013. "Background risk, bivariate risk attitudes, and optimal prevention," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 390-395.
    6. Courbage, Christophe & Rey, Béatrice, 2012. "Optimal prevention and other risks in a two-period model," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 213-217.
    7. Liqun Liu & Nicolas Treich, 2021. "Optimality of winner-take-all contests: the role of attitudes toward risk," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 63(1), pages 1-25, August.
    8. Courbage, Christophe & Rey, Béatrice & Treich, Nicolas, 2013. "Prevention and precaution," TSE Working Papers 13-445, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    9. Han Bleichrodt, 2022. "The prevention puzzle," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 47(2), pages 277-297, September.
    10. Reichel, Lukas & Schmeiser, Hato & Schreiber, Florian, 2021. "Sometimes more, sometimes less: Prudence and the diversification of risky insurance coverage," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 292(2), pages 770-783.
    11. Richard Peter, 2021. "Who should exert more effort? Risk aversion, downside risk aversion and optimal prevention," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 71(4), pages 1259-1281, June.
    12. Thomas Mayrhofer & Hendrik Schmitz, 2020. "Prudence and prevention - Empirical evidence," Working Papers CIE 134, Paderborn University, CIE Center for International Economics.
    13. David Crainich & Louis Eeckhoudt & James Hammitt, 2015. "The value of risk reduction: new tools for an old problem," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 79(3), pages 403-413, November.
    14. Menegatti, Mario & Rebessi, Filippo, 2011. "On the substitution between saving and prevention," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 62(3), pages 176-182.
    15. Sebastian Ebert & Daniel Wiesen, 2011. "Testing for Prudence and Skewness Seeking," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(7), pages 1334-1349, July.
    16. Crainich, David & Eeckhoudt, Louis & Menegatti, Mario, 2016. "Changing risks and optimal effort," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 97-106.
    17. Jindapon, Paan & Neilson, William S., 2007. "Higher-order generalizations of Arrow-Pratt and Ross risk aversion: A comparative statics approach," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 136(1), pages 719-728, September.
    18. Liqun Liu & Jack Meyer & Andrew J. Rettenmaier & Thomas R. Saving, 2018. "Risk and risk aversion effects in contests with contingent payments," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 289-305, June.
    19. Kit Pong Wong, 2019. "An interpretation of the condition for precautionary saving: the case of greater higher-order interest rate risk," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 126(3), pages 275-286, April.
    20. Wang, Jianli & Wang, Hongxia & Yick, Ho Yin, 2019. "How do changes in risk and risk aversion affect self-protection with Selden/Kreps–Porteus preferences?," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 1-6.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Absolute prudence; Moments of the loss distribution; Self-protection; Variance; Skewness;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty

    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:lvl:lacicr:1024. 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: Manuel Paradis (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cirpeca.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.