Cyan comments on Expected utility without the independence axiom - Less Wrong

9 Post author: Stuart_Armstrong 28 October 2009 02:40PM

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Comment author: RobinZ 28 October 2009 04:50:04PM *  0 points [-]

It's a good result, but I wonder if the standard deviation is the best parameter. Loss-averse agents react differently to asymmetrical distributions allowing large losses than those allowing large gains.

Edit: For example, the mean of an exponential distribution f(x;t) = L * e^(-L*x) has mean and standard deviation 1/L, but a loss-averse agent is likely to prefer it to the normal distribution N(1/L, 1/L^2), which has the same mean and standard deviation.

Comment author: Cyan 28 October 2009 06:00:51PM *  1 point [-]

See also semivariance in the context of investment (and betting in general). NB: "semivariance" has a different meaning in the context of spatial statistics.