Limited Role of Entropy in Information Economics,
Abstract
Of the properties of the entropy function meant to express the intuitive characteristics of the concept information, some are shared by a class of symmetric strictly semi-concave functions, others by all concave functions, of the probability vector. Moreover, one information system is more valuable than another, for all system users, if and only if the information transmitted is greater for the former system, computed on the basis of any concave function of the probability vector, and not on the basis of entropy alone. The economically important exclusive property of entropy is its measuring the disorder defined as the minimum expected length of a decodable description of a state. This is relevant to the loss due to delays in communication, or to its fixed cost (paid for channel capacity). (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1973
- Accession Number
- AD0769147
Entities
People
- Jacob Marschak
Organizations
- University of California, Los Angeles