Working Paper Series,
Uppsala University, Department of Economics

Abstract: The paper relates cumulative prospect theory to the moments of returns distributions, e.g. skewness and kurtosis, assuming returns are normal inverse Gaussian distributed. The normal inverse Gaussian distribution parametrizes the first- to forth-order moments, making the investigation straightforward. Cumulative prospect theory utility is found to be positively related to the skewness. However, the relation is negative when probability weighing is set aside. This shows that cumulative prospect theory investors display a preference for skewness through the probability weighting function. Furthermore, the investor’s utility is inverse hump-shape related to the kurtosis. Consequences for portfolio choice issues are studied. The findings, among others, suggest that optimal cumulative prospect theory portfolios are not meanvariance efficient under the normal inverse Gaussian distribution.

Keywords: cumulative prospect theory; skewness; kurtosis; normal inverse Gaussian distribution; portfolio choice

JEL-codes: C16; D81; G11

31 pages, October 17, 2006

Full text files

FULLTEXT01.pdf  

Download statistics

• Uppsala University, Department of Economics
• Home page for this series

Questions (including download problems) about the papers in this series should be directed to Ulrika Öjdeby ()
Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson ().

RePEc:hhs:uunewp:2006_024This page generated on 2024-09-13 22:17:37.