You have $10,000 cash in your savings account. A friend tells you about a great "investment" opportunity with one big catch: there is a 50% chance you will either gain $30,000 (i.e. total wealth = $40,000) or a 50% chance you will lose your entire $10,000 investment (i.e. total wealth = $0). Given a personal utility function of U(W) = w(1/3), the gain on the upside is not enough to take the investment. What would your total wealth on the upside have to be greater than to properly incentivize you to take the risk? Multiple Choice 160,000 80,000 120,000 100,000

You have $10,000 cash in your savings account. A friend tells you about a great "investment" opportunity with one big catch: there is a 50% chance you will either gain $30,000 (i.e. total wealth = $40,000) or a 50% chance you will lose your entire $10,000 investment (i.e. total wealth = $0). Given a personal utility function of U(W) = w(1/3), the gain on the upside is not enough to take the investment. What would your total wealth on the upside have to be greater than to properly incentivize you to take the risk? Multiple Choice 160,000 80,000 120,000 100,000

Microeconomic Theory

12th Edition

ISBN:9781337517942

Author:NICHOLSON

Publisher:NICHOLSON

Chapter7: Uncertainty

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 7.1P

See similar textbooks

Similar questions

Clancy has difficulty finding parking in his neighborhood and, thus, is considering the gamble of illegally parking on the sidewalk because of the opportunity cost of the time he spends searching for parking. On any given day, Clancy knows he may or may not get a ticket, but he also expects that if he were to do it every day, the average amount he would pay for parking tickets should converge to the expected value. If the expected value is positive, then in the long run, it will be optimal for him to park on the sidewalk and occasionally pay the tickets in exchange for the benefits of not searching for parking. Suppose that Clancy knows that the fine for parking this way is $100, and his opportunity cost (OC) of searching for parking is $20 per day. That is, if he parks on the sidewalk and does not get a ticket, he gets a positive payoff worth $20; if he does get a ticket, he ends up with a payoff of
Show that a decision maker who has a linear utilityfunction will rank two lotteries according to their expectedvalue.
A woman with current wealth X has the opportunity to bet an amount on the occurrence of an event that she knows will occur with probability P. If she wagers W, she will received 2W, if the event occur and if it does not. Assume that the Bernoulli utility function takes the form u(x) = with r > 0. How much should she wager? Does her utility function exhibit CARA, DARA, IARA? Alex plays football for a local club in Kumasi. If he does not suffer any injury by the end of the season, he will get a professional contract with Kotoko, which is worth $10,000. If he is injured though, he will get a contract as a fitness coach worth $100. The probability of the injury is 10%. Describe the lottery What is the expected value of this lottery? What is the expected utility of this lottery if u(x) = Assume he could buy insurance at price P that could pay $9,900 in case of injury. What is the highest value of P that makes it worthwhile for Alex to purchase insurance? What is the certainty…
When a famous painting becomes available for sale, it is often known which museum or collector will be the likely winner. Yet, the auctioneer actively woos representatives of other museums that have no chance of winning to attend anyway. Suppose a piece of art has recently become available for sale and will be auctioned off to the highest bidder, with the winner paying an amount equal to the second highest bid. Assume that most collectors know that Valerie places a value of $15,000 on the art piece and that she values this art piece more than any other collector. Suppose that if no one else shows up, Valerie simply bids $15,000/2=$7,500 and wins the piece of art. The expected price paid by Valerie, with no other bidders present, is $________.. Suppose the owner of the artwork manages to recruit another bidder, Antonio, to the auction. Antonio is known to value the art piece at $12,000. The expected price paid by Valerie, given the presence of the second bidder Antonio, is $_______. .
Suppose that you have two opportunities to invest $1M. The first will increase the amount invested by 50% with a probability of 0.6 or decrease it with a probability of 0.4. The second will increase it by 5% for certain. You wish to split the $1M between the two opportunities. Let x be the amount invested in the first opportunity with (1-x) invested in the second. Find the optimal value of x. Using expected value as the criterion (linear utility) Using the flowing utility function: u(x)=2.3 ln⁡〖(1+4.5x)
Assume that someone has inherited 2,000 bottles of wine from a rich uncle. He or she intends to drink these bottles over the next 40 years. Suppose that this person’s utility function for wine is given by u(c(t)) = (c(t))0.5, where c(t) is each instant t consumption of bottles. Assume also this person discounts future consumption at the rate δ = 0.05. Hence this person’s goal is to maximize 0ʃ40 e–0.05tu(c(t))dt = 0ʃ40 e–0.05t(c(t))0.5dt. Let x(t) represent the number of bottle of wine remaining at time t, constrained by x(0) = 2,000, x(40) = 0 and dx(t)/dt = – c(t): the stock of remaining bottles at each instant t is decreased by the consumption of bottles at instant t. The current value Hamiltonian expression yields: H = e–0.05t(c(t))0.5 + λ(– c(t)) + x(t)(dλ/dt). This person’s wine consumption decreases at a continuous rate of ??? percent per year. The number of bottles being consumed in the 30th year is approximately ???
Gary likes to gamble. Donna offers to bet him $31 on the outcome of a boat race. If Gary’s boat wins, Donna would give him $31. If Gary’s boat does not win, Gary would give her $31. Gary’s utility function is p1x^21+p2x^22, where p1 and p2 are the probabilities of events 1 and 2 and where x1 and x2 are his wealth if events 1 and 2 occur respectively. Gary’s total wealth is currently only $80 and he believes that the probability that he will win the race is 0.3. Which of the following is correct? (please submit the number corresponding to the correct answer). Taking the bet would reduce his expected utility. Taking the bet would leave his expected utility unchanged. Taking the bet would increase his expected utility. There is not enough information to determine whether taking the bet would increase or decrease his expected utility. The information given in the problem is self-contradictory.
Suppose your utility function for money is a square-root function of its value in US dollars. So, for instance, $400 is worth 20 utils for you, $961 is worth 31 utils for you, and $62.5K is worth 250 utils for you. Now, let’s say your annual salary is $90K, although there is a small risk (p = 0.05) that something catastrophic will happen and reduce your income for the year to $14.4K. An insurance company comes along and offers to insure you against the loss of your salary. The cost of the insurance is $4,736. If you buy the policy and catastrophe strikes, the insurance company will pay out the $75,600 that you would otherwise have lost. From the standpoint of maximizing expected utility, would buying this insurance be a good deal for you? What would be the insurance company’s expected monetary value of selling you the policy?
A risk-averse manager is considering two projects. The first project involves expanding the market for bologna; the second involves expanding the market for caviar. There is a 10 percent chance of a recession and a 90 percent chance of an economic boom. During a boom, the bologna project will lose $10,000, whereas the caviar project will earn $20,000. During a recession, the bologna project will earn $12,000 and the caviar project will lose $8,000. If the alternative is earning $3,000 on a safe asset (say, a Treasury bill), what should the manager do? Why?
Please draw a utility function that exhibits risk-loving behavior for small gambles (low values)and risk-averse behavior for larger gambles (high value).
Leo owns one share of Anteras, a semiconductor chip company which may have to recall millions of chips. The stock currently trades at $100/share. Leo believes the probability that they have to recall the chips is 50%. If the chips have to be recalled, the stock price will be cut in half, but otherwise it will remain $100. The expected value of Leo's share is ______ Assume Leo has the utility function, U(X)=√X. The minimum price Leo would accept to sell his share is _______ Leo's risk premium is ________
Arielle is a risk-averse traveler who is planning a trip to Canada. She is planning on carrying $400 in her backpack. Walking the streets of Canada, however, can be dangerous and there is some chance that she will have her backpack stolen. If she is only carrying cash and her backpack is stolen, she will have no money ($0). The probability that her backpack is stolen is 1/5. Finally assume that her preferences over money can be represented by the utility function U(x)=(x)^0.5 Suppose that she has the option to buy traveler’s checks. If her backpack is stolen and she is carrying traveler’s checks then she can have those checks replaced at no cost. National Express charges a fee of $p per $1 traveler’s check. In other words, the price of a $1 traveler’s check is $(1+p). If the purchase of traveler’s checks is a fair bet, then we know that the purchase of traveler checks will not change her expected income. Show that if the purchase is a fair bet, then the price (1+p) = $1.25.