Abstract
This paper advances an interpretation of Von Neumann-Morgenstern's expected utility model for preferences over lotteries which does not require the notion of a cardinal utility over prizes and can be phrased entirely in the language of probability. According to it, the expected utility of a lottery can be read as the probability that this lottery outperforms another given independent lottery. The implications of this interpretation for some topics and models in decision theory are considered.
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Castagnoli, E., Calzi, M.L. Expected utility without utility. Theor Decis 41, 281–301 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00136129
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00136129