In contrast to the traditional modeling of voter choice based on proximity, under directional models, selection of candidates is based on the direction and/or intensity of change from a status quo or neutral point. Voter choice can also be modeled as representing both approaches, e.g., as a directional model with proximity restraint, or alternatively, in terms of proximity to discounted positio...

We consider a class of generalized dynamic programming models based on weighted sup-norm contractions. We provide an analysis that parallels the one available for discounted MDP and for generalized models based on unweighted sup-norm contractions. In particular, we discuss the main properties and associated algorithms of these models, including value iteration, policy iteration, and their optim...

In finance one of the primary issues is managing risk. Related to this issue and maybe for hedging, investors are naturally interested in the expected values of supremum, infimum, maximum gain and maximum loss of risky assets and the relations between them. Price of a risky asset, stock, can be modeled using Brownian motion and fractional Brownian motion. In this study, we first present the mar...

IT IS WELL KNOWN that in multisector models of optimal growth that optimal paths converge to a unique steady state when future utilities are not discounted. See Gale [8], McKenzie [18], and Brock [3] for results of this type. Then Sutherland [32], in the case when future utilities are discounted, produced examples of multiple steady states in Gale's [8] model. Thus the qualitative behavior of o...

Two experiments were conducted to investigate how individuals evaluate future outcomes. Normative decision models postulate that the value of future outcomes should be discounted as a function of time. The present research obtained discounted values for single outcomes in the future but did not obtain discounted values for outcomes presented in series. In Experiment 1, students evaluated (a) co...

The defective renewal equation satisfied by the Gerber-Shiu discounted penalty function in the renewal risk model with arbitrary interclaim times is analyzed. The ladder height distribution is shown to be a mixture of residual lifetime claim severity distributions, which results in an invariance property satisfied by a large class of claim amount models. In particular, when claims are exponenti...

We consider a discounted utility model that has two components. (1) The instantaneous utility is of the prospect theory form, thus, allowing for reference dependent outcomes. (2) The discount function embodies a ‘reference time’to which all future outcomes are discounted back to, hence, the name, reference time theory. We allow the discount function to exhibit declining impatience, as in hyperb...