Revealed Preference over States of the World (JMP, 2025)

Abstract: When we study subjective expected utility agents, we assume that states are only relevant to the extent they determine material payoffs. However, I analyze decision problems in which it's conceivable that states themselves have intrinsic value in addition to material payoffs. I analyze a generalization of the Intrinsic Information Utility (IIU) model in (Zweygardt, 2025) providing conditions for the existence of an expected utility function over states. I provide a novel restriction on preference of non-quasiperiodicity. This assumption guarantees the existence of unique utility from states. Finally, I provide an application to task selection in a principal-agent setting, showing that transparency of state utility strictly benefits both the principal and agent.

Recursive Intrinsic Utility from Information (2024)

Abstract: This paper develops a recursive model of nonstandard preferences for information using an axiomatic approach. Standard economic models predict that when upcoming decisions are trivial; i.e. menus of acts are singletons, agents will be indifferent towards information. Recent experimental literature reveals that many agents are in fact not indifferent in this setting. I provide theoretical foundations for the recursive model in (Kreps & Porteus, 1978) adapted to an environment with Blackwell experiments. This paper additionally focuses on a parametric family of representations wherein the parameter of interest is future-period intrinsic utility from information and messages. With mild assumptions, the latter class of nonstandard preference reveals an underlying preference over states of the world, for which there exist cardinal uniqueness properties.

Work in Progress

A Note on Quasiperiodic Preferences (2024)

Abstract: This note provides behavioral foundations for preferences that are represented by a special class of quasiperiodic utility functions. I show that in the context of nonstandard preference for information, ruling out quasiperiodic preferences allows for the identification of intrinsic utility from information. Other economic interpretations of these preferences are discussed.