Affective decision-making is a strategic model of choice under risk and uncertainty where we posit two cognitive processes -- the "rational" and the "emotional" process. Observed choice is the result of equilibrium in this intrapersonal game. As an example, we present applications of affective...

We characterize, in the framework for variational preferences, the affective decision making model of choice under risk and uncertainty introduced by Bracha and Brown (2007). This characterization (i) provides a rigorus decision-theoretic foundation for affective decision making, (ii) offers an...

This paper considers a dual approach to the problem of maximizing lifetime utility subject to liquidity constraints in a discrete time setting. These constraints prohibit the decision maker from borrowing against future endowment income. The dual approach allows us to exploit directly the...

Affective decision-making is a strategic model of choice under risk and uncertainty where we posit two cognitive processes — the "rational" and the "emotional" process. Observed choice is the result of equilibirum in this intrapersonal game. As an example, we present applications of affective...

The possibility of default limits available liquidity. If the potential default draws nearer, a liquidity crisis may ensue, causing a crash in asset prices, even if the probability of default barely changes, and even if no defaults subsequently materialize. Introducing default and limited...

A large body of experimental data demonstrates that people's beliefs influence their well-being beyond the indirect effect through the actions taken. I present a model that incorporates beliefs into an agent's utility function. The paper provides axiomatic foundations for a special class of...

We build a model of competitive pooling, which incorporates adverse selection and signalling into general equilibrium. Pools are characterized by their quantity limits on contributions. Households signal their reliability by choosing which pool to join. In equilibrium, pools with lower quantity...

We build a model of competitive pooling and show how insurance contracts emerge in equilibrium, designed by the invisible hand of perfect competition. When pools are exclusive, we obtain a unique separating equilibrium. When pools are not exclusive but seniority is recognized, we obtain a...

In a series of papers, Martin Weitzman has proposed a Dismal Theorem. The general idea is that, under limited conditions concerning the structure of uncertainty and preferences, society has an indefinitely large expected loss from high-consequence, low-probability events. Under such conditions,...

We study axiomatically the problem of obtaining an expected utility representation for a potentially incomplete preference relation over lotteries by means of a set of von Neumann-Morgenstern utility functions. It is shown that, when the prize space is a compact metric space, a preference...