Quadratic Preferences and Goal Programming

One of the shortcomings of goal programming lies in its linearity , assumption, specifically in the objective function. This assumption compels one to work with constant marginal utilities and rates of substitution. In this paper a quadratic preference function, which is more consistent with economic theory and reality, is formulated and introduced into goal programming. In an effort to facilitate the understanding of the proposed procedure, two illustrative examples—one with symmetric preferences and the other with asymmetric preferences, both applied to the objective function—are solved and compared with a goal programming solution.