Divergent mathematical treatments in utility theory

Rizza, Davide ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1375-371X (2016) Divergent mathematical treatments in utility theory. Erkenntnis, 81 (6). 1287–1303. ISSN 1572-8420

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Abstract

In this paper I study how divergent mathematical treatments affect mathematical modelling, with a special focus on utility theory. In particular I examine recent work on the ranking of information states and the discounting of future utilities, in order to show how, by replacing the standard analytical treatment of the models involved with one based on the framework of Nonstandard Analysis, diametrically opposite results are obtained. In both cases, the choice between the standard and nonstandard treatment amounts to a selection of set-theoretical parameters that cannot be made on purely empirical grounds. The analysis of this phenomenon gives rise to a simple logical account of the relativity of impossibility theorems in economic theory, which concludes the paper.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Philosophy
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	08 Jan 2016 13:00
Last Modified:	21 Jul 2023 09:40
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/56160
DOI:	10.1007/s10670-015-9795-1

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