This second edition of Stochastic Dominance is devoted to investment
decision- making under uncertainty. The book covers four basic
approaches to this process: a) The stochastic dominance (SD) approach,
developed on the foundation of von-Neumann and Morgenstem^ expected
utiHty paradigm. b) The mean-variance approach developed by Markowitz^
on the foundation of von-Neumann and Morgenstern's expected utility or
simply on the assumption of a utility function based on mean and
variance. c) The almost stochastic dominance (ASD) rules and the almost
me- variance rule (AMV). No matter whether one employs objective or
subjective probabilities, the common stochastic dominance criteria and
the mean variance rule may lead to paradoxes: they are unable to rank
prospect A w^hich yields $1 with a probability of 0.01 and a million
dollars with probability of 0.99, and prospect B which yields $2 with
certainty. This is an absurdity as in any sample of subjects one takes,
100% of subjects choose A. The almost stochastic dominance criteria and
almost mean variance rule, which have been recently been developed by
Leshno and Levy in 2002^, suggest a remedy to such paradoxes.