You live in an area where there is a possibility of a massive earthquake, so consider purchasing earthquake insurance for your home at an annual cost of $180. The probability of an earthquake damaging your home in the course of a year is 0.001. If this occurs, you estimate that the cost of the damage (fully covered by insurance) will be $160,000. Your total assets (including the house) are worth $250,000. a) Apply the maximum expected value decision rule to determine the alternative (to buy insurance or not) that maximizes the value of your assets after one year. b) You developed a utility function that measures the value of your assets in x dollars (x ≥ 0). This utility function is U(x) = √x. Compare the utility of reducing the total of your assets for the next year by a value equal to the value of the insurance, with the expected utility next year of not purchasing tremor insurance. Should you purchase the insurance?
You live in an area where there is a possibility of a massive earthquake, so consider purchasing earthquake insurance for your home at an annual cost of $180. The probability of an earthquake damaging your home in the course of a year is 0.001. If this occurs, you estimate that the cost of the damage (fully covered by insurance) will be $160,000. Your total assets (including the house) are worth $250,000.
a) Apply the maximum expected value decision rule to determine the alternative (to buy insurance or not) that maximizes the value of your assets after one year.
b) You developed a utility function that measures the value of your assets in x dollars (x ≥ 0). This utility function is U(x) = √x. Compare the utility of reducing the total of your assets for the next year by a value equal to the value of the insurance, with the expected utility next year of not purchasing tremor insurance. Should you purchase the insurance?
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