Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/97259 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
Discussion Paper No. 1567
Publisher: 
Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science, Evanston, IL
Abstract: 
We study preferences for timing of resolution of objective uncertainty in a menuchoice model with two stages of information arrival. We characterize a general class of utility representations called hidden action representations, which interpret an intrinsic preference for timing of resolution of uncertainty as if an unobservable action is taken between the resolution of the two periods of information arrival. These representations permit a richer class of preferences for timing than was possible in the model of Kreps and Porteus (1978) by incorporating a preference for exibility. Our model contains several special cases where this hidden action can be given a novel economic interpretation, including a subjective-state-space model of ambiguity aversion and a model of costly contemplation.
Subjects: 
temporal preferences
preference for flexibility
hidden action
subjective uncertainty
JEL: 
D81
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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