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Ambiguity Aversion and Absence of Trade

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  • Alain Chateauneuf
  • Luciano De Castro

Abstract

What is the effect of ambiguity aversion on trade? Although in a Bewley's model ambiguity aversion always lead to less trade, in other models this is not always true. However, we show that if the endowments are unambiguous then more ambiguity aversion implies less trade, for a very general class of preferences. The reduction in trade caused by ambiguity aversion can be as severe as to lead to no-trade. In an economy with MEU decision makers, we show that if the aggregate endowment is unanimously unambiguous then every Pareto optima allocation is also unambiguous. We also characterize the situation in which every unanimously unambiguous allocation is Pareto optimal. Finally, we show how our results can be used to explain the home-bias effect. As a useful result for our methods, we also obtain an additivity theorem for CEU and MEU decision makers that does not require comonotonicity JEL Code: D51, D6, D8

Suggested Citation

  • Alain Chateauneuf & Luciano De Castro, 2011. "Ambiguity Aversion and Absence of Trade," Discussion Papers 1535, Northwestern University, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:nwu:cmsems:1535
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    4. repec:spr:etbull:v:2:y:2014:i:2:d:10.1007_s40505-014-0037-5 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Christian Gollier, 2014. "Optimal insurance design of ambiguous risks," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 57(3), pages 555-576, November.
    6. Beißner, Patrick, 2016. "Radner Equilibria under Ambiguous Volatility," Center for Mathematical Economics Working Papers 493, Center for Mathematical Economics, Bielefeld University.
    7. Tatjana Chudjakow & Frank Riedel, 2013. "The best choice problem under ambiguity," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 54(1), pages 77-97, September.
    8. José Faro, 2013. "Cobb-Douglas preferences under uncertainty," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 54(2), pages 273-285, October.
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    11. Angelos Angelopoulos & Leonidas Koutsougeras, 2015. "Value allocation under ambiguity," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 59(1), pages 147-167, May.
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    14. Tamini, Lota D., 2012. "Optimal quality choice under uncertainty on market development," MPRA Paper 40845, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Boonen, Tim J., 2017. "Risk Redistribution Games With Dual Utilities," ASTIN Bulletin, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(1), pages 303-329, January.
    16. Antoine Billot & Sujoy Mukerji & Jean-Marc Tallon, 2019. "Market Allocations under Ambiguity: A Survey," Working Papers 897, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    17. Yehuda Izhakian & Zur Izhakian, 2015. "Decision making in phantom spaces," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 58(1), pages 59-98, January.
    18. M. Peiris & Alexandros Vardoulakis, 2013. "Savings and default," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 54(1), pages 153-180, September.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    no-trade results; ambiguity aversion; Pareto optimality.;

    JEL classification:

    • D51 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Exchange and Production Economies
    • D6 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics
    • D8 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty

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