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South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences
versión On-line ISSN 2222-3436
versión impresa ISSN 1015-8812
S. Afr. j. econ. manag. sci. vol.12 no.3 Pretoria oct. 2009
ARTICLES
Revised 004-8 considering the Harmonic Sequence "Paradox"
Robert William Vivian1
School of Economic and Business Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
ABSTRACT
Blavatskyy (2006) formulated a game of chance based on the harmonic series which, he suggests, leads to a St Petersburg type of paradox. In view of the importance of the St Petersburg game in decision theory, any game which leads to a St Petersburg game type paradox is of interest. Blavatskyy's game is re-examined in this article to conclude that it does not lead to a St Petersburg type paradox.
Keywords: St Petersburg paradox; harmonic series; harmonic series paradoxes; decision theory and games of chance; decision theory paradoxes; expected values
JEL C91, D81
“Full text available only in PDF format”
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1This article has benefited from the insightful comments of two anonymous referees. The usual disclaimers apply.