We outline an approach for assessing preferences in the form of a finite-dimensional, linear-lexicographic utility function when they lack the continuity properties necessary for representing them in the form of a real-valued, von Neumann-Morgenstern utility function. This approach takes the...

An additive-across-states decomposition of lexicographic linear utility is easily obtained under a mild structural assumption concerning sufficient richness of acts in the domain of preference assessment, but the vectoral nature of lexicographic utility introduces two complexities absent in the...

By enriching the set of acts deemed available at least as objects of assessment, the authors obtain a significant tightening of the linear lexicographic representation described in I. LaValle and P. Fishburn (1991). Under the state-independent assumption that every outcome is available in every...

We examine the choice-of-single-stage-experiment problem (Raiffa and Schlaifer, 1961) under the assumption that the decider's (weak) preference relation "greater than or equal to" satisfies Schmeidler's (1989) or Gilboa's (1987) axiomatization and is thus representable by a nonadditive...

A familiar example devised by Daniel Ellsberg to highlight the effects of event ambiguity on preferences is transformed to separate aleatory uncertainty (chance) from epistemic uncertainty. The transformation leads to a lottery acts model whose states involve epistemic uncertainty; aleatory...

During the past generation, expected utility theory has been widely accepted as the normative standard for decisionmaking under risk and under uncertainty. However, it is now known that reasonable people often violate its assumptions, and a number of generalizations of the theory have been...

This article offers an exegesis of the passages in von Neumann and Morgenstern (1944, 1947, 1953) that discuss their conception of utility. It is occasioned by two factors. First, as we approach the semicentennial of the publication of THEORY OF GAMES AND ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR, its immense impact on...

Finite first-order gambles are axiomatized. The representation combines features of prospect and rank-dependent theories. What is novel are distinctions between gains and losses and the inclusion of a binary operation of joint receipt. In addition to many of the usual structural and rationality...