Portfolio Selection with Monotone Mean-Variance Preferences
50 Pages Posted: 20 Jun 2008
Date Written: April 30, 2008
Abstract
We propose a portfolio selection model based on a class of monotone preferences that coincide with mean-variance preferences on their domain of monotonicity, but differ where mean-variance preferences fail to be monotone and are therefore not economically meaningful. The functional associated to this new class of preferences is the best approximation of the mean-variance functional among those which are monotonic. We solve the portfolio selection problem and we derive a monotone version of the CAPM, which has two main features: (i) it is, unlike the standard CAPM model, arbitrage free, (ii) it has empirically testable CAPM-like relations. The monotone CAPM has thus a sounder theoretical foundation than the standard CAPM and a comparable empirical tractability.
Keywords: portfolio selection, decision theory, mean-variance
JEL Classification: C6, D8, G11
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