Spherical preferences

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Chambers, Christopher P.; Echenique, Federico
• 署名单位: Georgetown University; California Institute of Technology
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC THEORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0531
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2020.105086
• 发表日期: 2020
• 关键词: Spherical; Additivity; Euclidean; Orthogonal; INDEPENDENCE

摘要

We introduce and study the property of orthogonal independence, a restricted additivity axiom applying when alternatives are orthogonal. The axiom requires that the preference for one marginal change over another should be maintained after each marginal change has been shifted in a direction that is orthogonal to both. We show that continuous preferences satisfy orthogonal independence if and only if they are spherical: their indifference curves are spheres with the same center, with preference being monotone either away or towards the center. Spherical preferences include linear preferences as a special (limiting) case. We discuss different applications to economic and political environments. Our result delivers Euclidean preferences in models of spatial voting, quadratic welfare aggregation in social choice, and expected utility in models of choice under uncertainty. (c) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.