One-Switch Independence for Multiattribute Utility Functions

Abstract

Assessment of multiattribute utility functions is significantly simplified if it is possible to decompose the function into more manageable pieces. Utility independence is a powerful property that serves well for this purpose, but if it is not appropriate in a given situation, what options does the analyst have? We review some possibilities and propose a new independence assumption based on the one-switch property. We argue that it is a natural generalization of utility independence and show how it leads to tractable multiattribute utility functions.