Ambiguity Aversion and the absence of indexed debt.

<p>Following the seminal works of Schmeidler (1989), Gilboa and Schmeidler (1989), roughly put, an agent’s subjective beliefs are said to be <em>ambiguous</em> if the beliefs may not be represented by a unique probability distribution, in the sta...

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Main Authors: Mukerji, S, Tallon, J
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Springer-Verlag 2004
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author Mukerji, S
Tallon, J
author_facet Mukerji, S
Tallon, J
author_sort Mukerji, S
collection OXFORD
description <p>Following the seminal works of Schmeidler (1989), Gilboa and Schmeidler (1989), roughly put, an agent’s subjective beliefs are said to be <em>ambiguous</em> if the beliefs may not be represented by a unique probability distribution, in the standard Bayesian fashion, but instead by a set of probabilities. An <em>ambiguity averse</em> decision maker evaluates an act by the minimum expected value that may be associated with it. In spite of wide and long-standing support among economists for indexation of loan contracts there has been relatively little use of indexation, except in situations of extremely high inflation. The object of this paper is to provide a (theoretical) explanation for this puzzling phenomenon based on the hypothesis that economic agents are <em>ambiguity averse</em>. The paper considers a general equilibrium model based on Magill and Quinzii (1997) with ambiguity averse agents, where both nominal and indexed bond contracts are available for trade and all relevant prices are determined endogenously. We obtain conditions which prompt an <em>endogenous</em> cessation of trade in indexed bonds: i.e., conditions under which there is no trade in indexed bonds in any equilibrium; only nominal bonds are traded.</p>
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spelling oxford-uuid:dcf4f1d7-8d04-4d4a-bfa5-c2ef84b24a7c2022-03-27T09:21:34ZAmbiguity Aversion and the absence of indexed debt.Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:dcf4f1d7-8d04-4d4a-bfa5-c2ef84b24a7cEnglishDepartment of Economics - ePrintsSpringer-Verlag2004Mukerji, STallon, J<p>Following the seminal works of Schmeidler (1989), Gilboa and Schmeidler (1989), roughly put, an agent’s subjective beliefs are said to be <em>ambiguous</em> if the beliefs may not be represented by a unique probability distribution, in the standard Bayesian fashion, but instead by a set of probabilities. An <em>ambiguity averse</em> decision maker evaluates an act by the minimum expected value that may be associated with it. In spite of wide and long-standing support among economists for indexation of loan contracts there has been relatively little use of indexation, except in situations of extremely high inflation. The object of this paper is to provide a (theoretical) explanation for this puzzling phenomenon based on the hypothesis that economic agents are <em>ambiguity averse</em>. The paper considers a general equilibrium model based on Magill and Quinzii (1997) with ambiguity averse agents, where both nominal and indexed bond contracts are available for trade and all relevant prices are determined endogenously. We obtain conditions which prompt an <em>endogenous</em> cessation of trade in indexed bonds: i.e., conditions under which there is no trade in indexed bonds in any equilibrium; only nominal bonds are traded.</p>
spellingShingle Mukerji, S
Tallon, J
Ambiguity Aversion and the absence of indexed debt.
title Ambiguity Aversion and the absence of indexed debt.
title_full Ambiguity Aversion and the absence of indexed debt.
title_fullStr Ambiguity Aversion and the absence of indexed debt.
title_full_unstemmed Ambiguity Aversion and the absence of indexed debt.
title_short Ambiguity Aversion and the absence of indexed debt.
title_sort ambiguity aversion and the absence of indexed debt
work_keys_str_mv AT mukerjis ambiguityaversionandtheabsenceofindexeddebt
AT tallonj ambiguityaversionandtheabsenceofindexeddebt