Increases in Risk and Linear Payoffs.

This paper is concerned with the effect of increases in risk on optimal decision variables for the class of linear payoffs. The authors show that, for this class of payoffs, one can extend the class of admissible increases in risk and obtain the desirable comparative statics properties. They propose the definition of a 'relatively weak increase in risk' and apply it to the case of the competitive firm with constant marginal costs, the standard portfolio model, and the coinsurance problem. Copyright 1993 by Economics Department of the University of Pennsylvania and the Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association.