Obvious Representations

Under standard assumptions, the respect of obvious dominance characterizes the existence of what we call obvious representations. We show that various conditions imposed directly on these representations pin down general monotonic, invariant bi-separable, general Choquet, convex Choquet, neo-additive Choquet, and subjective expected utility preferences. Among other insights, the alternative axiomatizations which we thus provide facilitate comparisons between models, as well as the identification of their parameters. Co-minimal and co-maximal acts—a natural generalization of co-monotonic acts, the relevance of which is further confirmed by our results—play a significant role in our analysis. Our results further testify of the fundamental importance of obvious dominance, and they offer a proof of concept that obvious representations constitute a fruitful format for axiomatic investigations.