 Nonmonotone monetary utility

A utility function on monetary amounts need not be increasing merely because preferences obey the expected utility hypothesis. The outcome labels do not themselves supply a preference order. For example, values $u(1)=2$, $u(2)=0$, $u(4)=3$ define consistent expected utility comparisons even though the amount $2$ is least preferred. Preferring more money is an additional assumption. It is distinct from risk aversion, which concerns the effect of spreading uncertainty for a specified increasing utility function.