17-5. You are offered the following gamble based on coin flips. If the first head occurs on the first flip , you get $2 IF the first head occurs on the second flip you get $4, and so on, so that is the first head is on the Nth flip , you get $2N. The game ends only when a flip on the coin results in heads. What is the expected value of this gamble? When offered, most people say they would only pay less than $10 to play this game. What are two reasons why people are willing to pay so much less than the expected value?

A wheel of fortune in a gambling casino has 54 different slots in which the wheel pointer can stop. Four of the 54 slots contain the number 9. For a 1 dollar bet on hitting a 9, if he or she succeeds, the gambler wins 10 dollars plus the return of the 1 dollar bet. What is the expected value of this gambling game? What is the meaning of the expected value result?

Clancy has difficulty finding parking in his neighborhood and, thus, is considering the gamble of illegally parking on the sidewalk because of the opportunity cost of the time he spends searching for parking. On any given day, Clancy knows he may or may not get a ticket, but he also expects that if he were to do it every day, the average amount he would pay for parking tickets should converge to the expected value. If the expected value is positive, then in the long run, it will be optimal for him to park on the sidewalk and occasionally pay the tickets in exchange for the benefits of not searching for parking. Suppose that Clancy knows that the fine for parking this way is $100, and his opportunity cost (OC) of searching for parking is $20 per day. That is, if he parks on the sidewalk and does not get a ticket, he gets a positive payoff worth $20; if he does get a ticket, he ends up with a payoff of

Problem 3. Carol's risk preference is represented by the following expected utility formula: U(T, C₁; 1 T, C₂) = π √√ √₁+ (17) √√C₂. i) Suppose Carol is indifferent between the following two options: the first option A returns $100 with probability and $X with probability, and the second option B returns $49 for sure. Determine X. ii) Consider the following three lotteries: L₁ = (0.9, $100; 0.1, $49), L2 = (0.7, $225; 0.3, $49), and L3= (0.5, $400; 0.5, $0). What is the ranking of these lotteries for Carol? Calculate the risk premiums of these lotteries for Carol. 1

3. Suppose we play the following game. I give you $100 for your initial bankroll. At each time n, you decide how much of your current wealth to bet. You cannot borrow money. You can only play with the money I gave you in the beginning or any money that you have won so far. The game is simple. At each time n ≥ 1, you decide the amount to bet. I will roll a fair die. If the die comes up 1,2,3,..., or 5, you win; if the die comes up 6, then you lose. IOW, if you bet $10 on the first roll, you will either have $90 or $110 after the first roll. (a) Suppose you wish to maximize your profit on the first roll. How much should you bet? (Most of you will get this wrong.) (b) What is the expected profit on the first roll if your bet is b with 0 ≤ b ≤ 100? (c) Suppose you wish to maximize your expected profit on the first roll. How much should you bet? (d) Suppose you wish to maximize your expected profit betting on the nth roll. How much of your current wealth do you bet? (e) Let X₂, be your…