Theoretical Economics 14 (2019), 1169–1183

We suggest a concept of convexity of preferences that does not rely on any algebraic structure. A decision maker has in mind a set of orderings interpreted as evaluation criteria. A preference relation is defined to be convex when it satisfies the following: if for each criterion there is an element that is both inferior to b by the criterion and superior to a by the preference relation, then b is preferred to a. This definition generalizes the standard Euclidean definition of convex preferences. It is shown that under general conditions, any strict convex preference relation is represented by a maxmin of utility representations of the criteria. Some economic examples are provided.

Keywords: Convex preferences, abstract convexity, maxmin utility

JEL classification: D01, C60