The problem with generalizing it is that the value of money isn’t constant. I would much rather have a million dollars free and clear than a 1⁄10,000 chance at ten billion dollars.
I would not call what utility theory explains in this case a quirk. Ten billion dollars are not actually ten thousand times more useful to me than a million dollars, and as a rational person I should presumably care about utility more than dollars.
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The problem with generalizing it is that the value of money isn’t constant. I would much rather have a million dollars free and clear than a 1⁄10,000 chance at ten billion dollars.
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Money is not linear in utility. Even granting that risk-neutrality in utility is the only rational approach, risk-neutrality in money does not follow.
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I would not call what utility theory explains in this case a quirk. Ten billion dollars are not actually ten thousand times more useful to me than a million dollars, and as a rational person I should presumably care about utility more than dollars.