RATIONAL DYNAMIC CHOICE AND EXPECTED UTILITY THEORY

This paper considers the normative status of the independence and ordering principles of expected utility theory. Preferences are defined in terms of choice and the two principles derived from restrictions on choice in sequential decision problems. The results extend and clarify important contributions by P. J. Hammond and E. F. McClennen. They show that it is different requirements on dynamic choice which rationalize independence and ordering respectively and illuminate their relationship to consequentialism. Copyright 1996 by Royal Economic Society.