The Field Guide › Paper

Risk, Ambiguity, and the Savage Axioms

Ellsberg · Voice & Silence · The Quarterly Journal of Economics · 1961 · Open access

The paper that introduced the Ellsberg paradox — demonstrating that people systematically prefer known-probability risks over unknown-probability ambiguity, violating expected utility theory. Foundational for understanding ambiguity aversion: the preference for a calculable risk over an incalculable one explains part of why people stay silent when they cannot predict how voice will land.

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