An economic index of riskiness

Robert J. Aumann, Roberto Serrano

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

173 Scopus citations

Abstract

Define the riskiness of a gamble as the reciprocal of the absolute risk aversion (ARA) of an individual with constant ARA who is indifferent between taking and not taking that gamble. We characterize this index by axioms, chief among them a "duality" axiom that, roughly speaking, asserts that less risk-averse individuals accept riskier gambles. The index is positively homogeneous, continuous, and subadditive; respects first- and second-order stochastic dominance; and fbr normally distributed gambles is half of variance/mean. Examples are calculated, additional properties are derived, and the index is compared with others.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)810-836
Number of pages27
JournalJournal of Political Economy
Volume116
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2008

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'An economic index of riskiness'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this