Why Would Nature Give Individuals Utility Functions?

S-Tier
Journal: Journal of Political Economy
Year: 2001
Volume: 109
Issue: 4
Pages: 900-929

Score contribution per author:

8.043 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

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.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:ucp:jpolec:v:109:y:2001:i:4:p:900-929
Journal Field
General
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-29