An Introduction To Decision Theory
An Introduction To Decision Theory
Decision Theory
Chapter 20
McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Learning Objectives
LO1 Identify and apply the three components of a
decision.
LO2 Compute and interpret the expected values
for a payoff table.
LO3 Explain and interpret opportunity loss.
LO4 Describe three strategies for decision making.
LO5 Compute and describe the expected value of
information.
LO6 Organize possible outcomes into a decision
tree and interpret the result.
20-2
LO1 Identify and apply the three
components of a decision.
The Expected Payoff or the Expected Monetary Value (EMV) is the expected value
for each decision.
20-3
LO1
Decision Making
20-4
LO2 Compute and interpret the
expected values for a payoff table.
20-5
LO2
Decision Making Under Conditions of
Uncertainty - Example
EXAMPLE
Bob Hill, a small investor, has $1,100 to
invest. He has studied several common
stocks and narrowed his choices to (.60) (.40)
three, namely, Kayser Chemicals, Rim
Homes, and Texas Electronics. He
estimated that, if his $1,100 were
invested in Kayser Chemicals and a
strong bull market developed by the end
of the year (that is, stock prices
increased drastically), the value of his
Kayser stock would more than double, to
$2,400. However, if there were a bear
market (i.e., stock prices declined), the
value of his Kayser stock could
conceivably drop to $1,000 by the end of Calculation
the year. His predictions regarding the
value of his $1,100 investment for the (A1)=(.6)($2,400)+(.4)($1,000) =$1,840
three stocks for a bull market and for a
bear market are shown below. A study of
historical records revealed that during (A2)=(.6)($2,400)+(.4)($1,000) =$1,760
the past 10 years stock market prices
increased six times and declined only
four times. According to this information, (A3)=(.6)($2,400)+(.4)($1,000) =$1,600
the probability of a market rise is .60 and
the probability of a market decline is .40.
20-6
LO3 Explain and interpret opportunity loss table.
Opportunity Loss
Opportunity Loss or Regret is the loss because the exact state of nature is not
known at the time a decision is made.
The opportunity loss is computed by taking the difference between the optimal
decision for each state of nature and the other decision alternatives.
EOL( Ai ) [ P( S j ) R( Ai , S j )
20-7
LO3
Opportunity Loss when Market Rises Opportunity Loss when Market Declines
Kayser: Kayser:
$2,400 - $2,400= $0 $1,150 - $1,000= $150
EOL( Ai ) [ P( S j ) R( Ai , S j )
0.60 0.40
(A1)=(.6)($0)+(.4)($150) =$60
(A2)=(.6)($200)+(.4)($50) =$140
(A3)=(.6)($500)+(.4)($0) =$300
20-9
LO4 Describe three strategies for decision making.
Maximax strategy maximizes the maximum gain. Opposite of a maximin approach, it is an optimistic strategy
Minimax regret strategy minimizes the maximum regret (opportunity loss). This is another pessimistic strategy
Payoff Table
Maximin Maximax
1,000 2,400
1,100 2,200
1,150 1,900
Minimax
Regret
150
200
500
20-10
LO5 Compute and describe the expected value of
information.
20-11
LO5
Value of Perfect
Information
Step 1: Compute the Expected Value Under Certainty
Step 2: Compute the Expected Value Under Uncertainty Expected Value Under Uncertainty
(.60) (.40)
20-12
LO6 Organize possible outcomes into a
decision tree and interpret the result.
20-13
LO6
Decision Trees
$2,400
20-14