Serviços Personalizados
Artigo
Indicadores
Links relacionados
-
Citado por Google
-
Similares em Google
Compartilhar
South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences
versão On-line ISSN 2222-3436
versão impressa ISSN 1015-8812
S. Afr. j. econ. manag. sci. vol.12 no.3 Pretoria Out. 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”
References
BERNOULLI, D. 1954/1738. Exposition of a new theory on the measurement of risk, Econometrica, 22(1): 23-36. [ Links ]
BLAVATSKYY, P.R. 2006. Harmonic sequence paradox, Economic Theory 28(1): 221-226. [ Links ]
Derbyshire, J. 2003. Prime obsession - Bernard Riemann and the greatest unsolved problem in mathematics, Washington DC, United States of America: Joseph Henry Press. [ Links ]
Fine, T.L. 2008. "Evaluating the Pasadena, Altadena, and St Petersburg Gambles" Mind, 117 (467): 613-632. [ Links ]
MAISTROV, L.E. 1974. Probability Theory - a historical sketch, New York, United States of America: Academic Press (translated by Samuel Kotz). [ Links ]
NOVER, H & HÁJEK, A. 2004. Vexing expectations. Mind, 113: 237-249. [ Links ]
SAMUELSON, P.A. 1977. St Petersburg Paradoxes: defanged, dissected, and historically described. Journal of Economic Literature, 15 (1): 25-55. [ Links ]
SMITH, A. 1776. An inquiry into the nature and causes of the Wealth of Nations, Chicago, United States of America: Chicago University Press (1976 ed. [ Links ]).
TODHUNTER, I. 1865. A history of the mathematical theory of probability, Chelsea Publishing Company 1949. [ Links ]
VIVIAN, R.W. 2003. Solving the St Petersburg Paradox - the paradox which is not and never was, South African Journal of Management and Economic Sciences NS6 (2): 331-345. [ Links ]
_____ 2003a. Considering Samuelson's 'Fallacy of the Law of Large Numbers' without utility. South African Journal of Economics, 71(2): 363-379. [ Links ]
_____ 2004. 'Simulating the St Petersburg game: Theoretical and empirical consistency' Simulating and Gaming 34(4): 499-504. [ Links ]
_____ 2006. Considering the Pasadena "Paradox", South African Journal of Management and Economic Sciences NS9(2): 277-284. [ Links ]
1This article has benefited from the insightful comments of two anonymous referees. The usual disclaimers apply.