Blog List – Classic

For those who think that the only way to determine a person’scomparative beliefs is to look at her preferences, the lack ofuniqueness in Jeffrey’s theory is a big problem. Indeed, thismay be one of the main reasons why economists have largely ignoredJeffrey’s theory. Economists have traditionally been skepticalof any talk of a person’s desires and beliefs that goes beyondwhat can be established by examining the person’s preferences,which they take to be the only attitude that is directly reveale...Read More

We then proceed todiscuss how choice functions and their properties can be derived frompreferences. Finally, we view the relationship from the other end, andintroduce some approaches to inferring preferences from observedchoices. Consider again the choice among alternative architectural designs fora new building. As indicated above, our preferences can be expressedwith a vector \(\langle \succcurlyeq_1 ,\ldots ,\succcurlyeq_n\rangle\), each of whose elements represents our partialpreferences wit...Read More

Gérard Debreu, influenced by the ideas of the Bourbaki group, championed the axiomatization of consumer theory in the 1950s, and the tools he borrowed from the mathematical field of binary relations have become mainstream since then. Even though the economics of choice can be examined either at the level of utility functions or at the level of preferences, moving from one to the other can be useful. For example, shifting the conceptual basis from an abstract preference relation to an abstract ut...Read More

Steedman and Krause (1986) discussdifferent types of formation rules, which map a bundle (≽1, ≽2, …, ≽n)onto a single preference relation. The first formation rule describes avery cautious character, who considers an alternative at least as goodas another only if she considers it at least as good in everyaspect. In economics, and in other social sciences, preference refers to an order by which an agent, while in search of an “optimal choice”, ranks alternatives based on their respect...Read More

However, alternative frameworks, where this is not thecase, have been developed (e.g. Loomes and Sugden 1982). ≻Sdoes not necessarily satisfy transitivity of strict preference,transitivity of indifference, IP- or PI-transitivity. Relata of combinative preferences typically are not specified enoughto be mutually exclusive. To say that one prefers having a dog overhaving a cat does neglect the possibility that one may have both at thesame time. Depending on how one interprets it, the preferenceexp...Read More

Each sub-event could be similarlypartitioned according to the outcome of the second toss of the samecoin, and so on, ad infinitum. To introduce the paradox, consider three individuals,i1, i2, andi3, who are going on a trip together. Theyhave three countries to choose between, namely Argentina (A),Bolivia (B), and Columbia (C), and their decisionwill be made by simple majority. It is then impossible for them to make a decision that is stable inthe sense that no majority can be made against it. He...Read More

The staff accountant job description predicts future finances based on current revenue. It looks at financial items like the cost of goods sold (COGS) and accounts receivable as a percentage of your total sales. This information about past sales data helps you predict future financial performance. Explore related content by topic To calculate year-end accounts receivable, you don’t need to estimate your company’s ACP. The percentage-of-sales method is used to develop a budgeted set of financial ...Read More

That is because the bad debt expense was recognized when the company recorded the estimated uncollectable amount in the period of respective sales recognition. So, bad debt expenses are only recorded when the company posts the estimates of uncollectable balances due from customers, but not when bad debts are actually written off. This approach fully satisfies the matching principle because revenues and related bad debt expenses are recorded in the same period. Keep in mind that the financial sta...Read More