Why would nature give individuals utility functions?
成果类型：
Article
署名作者：
Robson, A
署名单位：
Western University (University of Western Ontario); Boston University
刊物名称：
JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
ISSN/ISSBN：
0022-3808
DOI：
10.1086/322083
发表日期：
2001
页码：
900-914
关键词：
摘要：
Consider the possible biological origin of the expected utility criterion. On the one hand, if individuals possess a utility function stemming from the rate of production of expected offspring, they can rapidly adapt to arbitrary unknown distributions in a bandit problem. Embedding such a utility function in a simple rule of thumb involving no beliefs about probabilities leads to evolutionary optimality. On the other hand, if any rule whatever yields evolutionary optimality for all distributions, this precise utility function must be implicit, in a revealed preference sense.
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