A simple trade-off condition for additive multiattribute utility

Abstract

We show that only two simple trade-off judgments are sufficient to determine whether the multiplicative multiattribute model assumes its additive form, regardless of the number of attributes in the model. This additivity condition offers a useful alternative to the test based on multiattribute lotteries commonly presented in textbooks. It can make the determination of additivity easier and more reliable. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.