In the codifier of USE topics in social studies, there is a topic number 2.16, which just requires the guys to know such a topic as rational consumer behavior: a family man, owner, employee, citizen. Despite the fact that this topic is the last one, it is often overlooked in preparation for a single state exam, which is unforgivable. Therefore, now we will analyze it, as always with examples.

Moreover, at the end we will give rough plan, which can be compiled on a real exam in the task of the second part of the test, which just requires its compilation.

Principles

Before reading this article, I strongly recommend our last article in principle. It is understood as a system of consumer actions that are aimed at satisfying his needs, on the one hand, and at creating demand for goods and services, on the other.

In economics, it is believed that any person in the market behaves based on both his needs and his material capabilities. In addition, each of us strives to reduce our costs and maximize our profits. Therefore, we are chasing delicious prices, offers on the market. That is why events such as Black Fridays are popular.

Based on the above, we can formulate the principles of consumer behavior in the market:

1. Rationality. We tend to make rational purchases, or at least explain to ourselves why we buy this or that thing. Here, of course, one can argue with economic theory and give a cloud of examples of how people buy goods impulsively, emotionally. For example, would you stand in a two-day queue for a new iPhone? Exactly what you need to stand for two days. Not? But there are hundreds of people who will disagree with you.
2. Awareness of limited resources (money). Most people have an income less than the cost of the needs they want to satisfy. It makes you chase after sweet offers.
3. Preference system. Most people have systemic needs: some relate to clothing, others to housing, and others to food.
4. Independence from other entities in the market. Each subject in the market is independent. And therefore, each manufacturer tries to convince him to buy goods from him. It is because of the sovereignty of the consumer that marketing exists - the science of attracting and retaining customers.

Based on these principles, there are concrete examples, models of consumer behavior, which can be conditionally called effects:

snob effect- a person buys certain things to emphasize his own. Such people, for example, buy only expensive gadgets, cars, clothes.

The Veblen effect (named after sociologist Thorstein Veblen) People buy things to impress. For example, some wealthy person buys a giraffe, or an elephant, or a small dog, worth several million dollars.

Or, for example, the expenses of our Russian officials are known, who manage to buy tablespoons and teaspoons for 20,000 rubles either a piece or a set. What do you not demonstrative behavior? True, what it actually means, I think everyone can clarify for themselves.

majority effect. " As others do, so will I,” such people think. After all, no one wants to be worse than others. Such a herd feeling greatly affects purchases, especially among children. And among adults, there are no less precedents, I think.

speculation effect, when, in conditions of significant inflation, people buy goods that have become scarce. For example, about 10 years ago, in our city there was a rumor that buckwheat would soon be gone. I don't know who started this rumor. And what do you think? People rushed to buy buckwheat. Of course it was a rumor. But in conditions of inflation, this can happen.

Promised

As we promised, I am attaching a plan, as if this topic were stated in the task of the second part. USE test in which you want to write a plan on this topic:

1. The concept of rational consumer behavior

2. Types of behavior based on the characteristics of the subject

• Family man behavior
• Citizen Behavior
• Owner behavior
• Consumer Behavior

3. Basic principles of rational behavior

• Principle of rationality
• The principle of awareness of limited resources (income)
• The Needs Principle
• The principle of independence

4. Basic behaviors

• demonstrative
• conservative
• Speculative
• Social

5. The influence of consumer behavior on the formation of demand for goods and services

On this topic, we conclude this topic. If you have any questions, ask in the comments! Also join our Vkontakte group, where the most valuable first-hand information about the exam.

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Obviously, the main limitation for any consumer is the size of his income. Since the needs are diverse and unlimited, and income (ie, the amount of money available to the consumer) is limited, the buyer is forced to constantly make a choice from the huge number of goods offered to him on the market. It is natural to assume that, in making this choice, the consumer seeks to acquire the best set of goods available with a given limited income.

There is no objective criterion to determine which set of goods is best for a given consumer. And only because the consumer chooses the “best set” of goods from his individual (i.e., subjective) point of view (remember the surprisingly accurate aphorism of K. Prutkov: “everyone thinks the best is what he has a desire for”).

Of course, the subjective approach is not flawless: a person is a complex being and does not always behave rationally in this sense. Of course, the concept of consumer rationality simplifies the mechanism of his economic behavior, and yet most consumers do seek to get maximum satisfaction from their limited income.

It should be especially emphasized that behaving rationally in the market does not at all mean necessarily being tight-fisted and petty-prudent. One should not think that a person who spent his fortune on “a million scarlet roses” for his beloved is an irrational consumer, and another who put money in a commercial bank at high interest rates is, on the contrary, a rational consumer. The theory of consumer behavior recognizes both as a rational consumer, if only they really chose the best (from their subjective point of view) variant of consumer behavior. This means that each consumer has a kind of individual scale of preferences and, realizing it with a limited income, seeks to achieve the highest possible degree of satisfaction.

Rational consumer behavior is to maximize utility with limited income.

Ticket

There are two main approaches to the definition of utility:

1) quantitative (cardinal). Here we are talking about the traditional version of consumer choice theory;

2) ordinal (ordinalist).

The utility a consumer derives from an additional unit of a good is called the marginal utility (MU). In turn, the sum of the utilities of the individual parts of the good gives overall utility(TU). Then marginal utility is the increase in total utility with an increase in the consumption of a good by one unit.

The overall utility of the good

The curve of general utility starts from the origin, since the need begins to be satisfied after a certain amount of consumption. This curve slopes positively, since as the amount of the good increases, total utility increases.

Using the cardinal (quantitative) theory of utility, one can characterize not only total utility, but also marginal utility, as an additional increase in a given level of well-being obtained by consuming an additional amount of a good of a given type and unchanged amounts of consumed goods of all other types.

marginal utility

Most goods have the property of diminishing marginal utility, according to which the greater the consumption of a certain good, the smaller the increment in utility received from a single increment in the consumption of this good. This explains why the demand curve for these goods has a negative slope. Figure 8 shows that for a hungry person, the utility of the first slice of bread he consumes is high (QA), but as his appetite is saturated, each subsequent slice of bread brings less and less satisfaction: the fifth slice of bread will provide only QB of utility.

Ticket

ORDINALIST (ORDINAL) UTILITY - subjective utility, or the satisfaction that the consumer receives from the good he consumes, measured on an ordinal scale.

The ordinal (ordinal) theory of utility is an alternative to the cardinal (quantitative) theory of utility.

Marginal utility cannot be measured; The consumer does not measure the utility of individual goods, but the utility of sets of goods. Only the order of preference for bundles of goods is measurable. The criterion of the ordinal (ordinal) theory of utility involves the ordering by the consumer of his preferences regarding goods. The consumer systematizes the choice of a set of goods according to the level of satisfaction. For example, the 1st set of goods gives him the greatest satisfaction, the 2nd set - less satisfaction, the 3rd set - even less satisfaction, etc. Therefore, such a systematization gives an idea of ​​the preferences of consumers in relation to a set of goods. However, it does not give an idea of ​​the differences in satisfaction with these sets of goods. In other words, from a practical point of view, the consumer can tell which set he prefers over another, but cannot determine how much one set is better than another.

The ordinal (ordinal) theory of utility is based on several axioms. Note that among economists there is no unity regarding the number and name of axioms. Some authors name four axioms, others - three axioms. Here we highlight the following axioms.

1. Axiom of complete (perfect) ordering of consumer preferences. A consumer who makes a purchase can always either name which of the two sets of goods is better than the other, or recognize them as equivalent. So, for sets A and B, or A > - B, or B > - A, or A ~ B, where the sign "> -" expresses the relationship of preference, and the sign " ~ " - the relationship of equivalence or indifference.

2. The axiom of transitivity of consumer preferences means that in order to make a certain decision and implement it, the consumer must consistently transfer preferences from some goods and their sets to others. So, if A > - B, and B > - C, then always A > - C, and if A ~ B and B ~ C, then always A ~ C. From the presented ranking it follows that A delivers more satisfaction than B , and B is greater than C. Therefore, A gives more satisfaction than C. Transitivity also implies that if the consumer does not distinguish between alternatives A and B and between B and C, then he should always not distinguish between A and AT.

3. The axiom of unsatisfactory needs states that consumers always prefer large quantity any good to the lesser. This axiom does not fit anti-goods that have negative utility, since they lower the level of well-being of a given consumer. So, air pollution, noise reduce the level of utility of consumers.

36 ticket The indifference curve depicts alternative sets of goods that provide the same level of utility (Fig. 8.1)

Indifference curves have the following properties.1. An indifference curve located to the right and above the other curve is more preferable for the consumer.2. Indifference curves always have a negative slope, because rational consumers will prefer more of any bundle to less.3. Indifference curves are concave due to decreasing marginal rates of substitution.4. Indifference curves never intersect and usually show decreasing marginal rates of substitution of one good for another.5. Sets of benefits on curves more distant from the origin are preferable to sets of benefits located on curves less distant from the coordinates. To describe a person's preferences for all sets of food and clothing, one can draw a family of indifference curves, which is called an indifference curve map. Indifference curve map - way graphic image utility functions for some particular consumer (Fig. 8.2). On fig. 8.2 shows four indifference curves that form a family - a map of indifference curves. Sets on indifference curves more distant from the origin deliver greater utility to the consumer and are therefore preferable to sets on less distant curves. On fig. 8.2 U4>U3>U2>U1.

Rice. 8.2. Map of indifference curves

An indifference curve map gives an idea of ​​the tastes of a particular consumer, since it illustrates the rate of substitution for two goods at any level of consumption of these goods. When it comes to the fact that the tastes of consumers are known, then the whole map of indifference curves is meant, and not the current ratio of units of two goods. In the map of indifference curves, each curve joins points of equal utility.

The main working concept of the ordinal (ordinal) theory of utility is considered to be the marginal rate of substitution MRS.

The marginal rate of substitution (MRS) measures how many units of one good a consumer must give up in order to acquire an additional unit of another good. In other words, it is the ratio of the marginal utility of two goods.

Consumer behavior is of great importance for the development of the production of goods and their supply.

Consumer behavior is the process of forming consumer demand for a variety of goods and services.

The actions of people in the sphere of acquiring consumer goods are subjective and sometimes unpredictable. However, a number of typical commonalities can be noted in the behavior of the average consumer:

Consumer demand depends on the level of his income;

Each consumer seeks to get “everything that is possible” for his money, that is, to maximize the total utility;

The average consumer has a distinct system of preferences, his own taste and attitude towards fashion;

Consumer demand is affected by the presence or absence of interchangeable or complementary goods in the markets.

Consumers also have non-functional demand. Consider its types.

"Snob effect": Snobs buy exactly those goods that rise in price in order to emphasize their social position.

Veblen Effect: A phenomenon in consumption theory in which consumers can have a positively sloping demand curve because they tend to consume conspicuously.

“Quality Assumption Effect”: Products of the same quality are sold at different prices in different stores. At the same time, more expensive goods are in many cases bought more often, since their higher quality is assumed.

"Effect of joining the majority", or "effect of the carriage": the desire of people to keep up with fashion, to be "no worse than others." This effect causes an increase in demand for those goods that people around the consumer buy.

"Irrational demand": purchases that are not planned by the consumer, but occur under the influence of momentary whims and desires.

"Speculative demand": occurs in conditions of shortage of a particular product.

In the life of modern society, there is an increase in the influence of the consumer on the producer. As a result, in the well-known formula what, how and for whom to produce? attention is focused not on what to produce, but on what to consume.

There are a number of arguments in favor of such a statement of the question. It is known that the goal for the manufacturer is to make a profit. Under these conditions, it is advisable to produce only such a product that can be sold on the market at a price exceeding the cost of its production. This is where the “appeal” of the producer to the consumer takes place. If the consumer gave money for the goods in an amount exceeding the costs, then the producer will receive a profit. Of course, the individual consumer cannot pass judgment on the manufacturer. The success or failure of a producer depends on the combined behavior of all consumers. This phenomenon is called consumer sovereignty (French souverain - the bearer of supreme power). The sovereignty of the consumer consists in his ability to influence the producer. In a society where there is no shortage of goods, the sovereignty of the consumer is of particular relevance, and the tone for the further development of production is set not by producers, but by consumers. Therefore, in modern economic theory, the behavior of the consumer, not the producer, becomes a fundamental category.

A necessary condition for the sovereignty of the consumer is the freedom of consumer choice. However, it can be limited by a number of measures:

The introduction of a rationing system, i.e., the rationing of the consumption of goods during periods of war, famine and other troubles;

Legislative prohibition of the production and consumption of harmful goods (drugs, alcohol, tobacco);

Stimulating the consumption of useful goods and services (books, theater, music).

Such restrictions on the freedom of consumer choice exist in any society. Such restrictions are justified only as a temporary remedy in emergency situations or as a necessary measure to protect against an obvious evil. In the same case, if the restriction of freedom is an integral part of the implementation of leveling theories in practice, the result of such a restriction may be a break in the connection between the consumer and the producer. Restricting freedom of choice is a dangerous weapon that should be used very carefully and in emergency situations.

Section 2. Microeconomics

Topic 2. Theory of consumer behavior

2.2.1. Principles of rational behavior of consumers.

Market demand is formed on the basis of decision-making by many individual consumers, which is of great importance for the development of the production of goods.

Each consumer, relying on his income, seeks to acquire various goods in such quantities and proportions that would bring him maximum satisfaction from their use. This behavior of the consumer in the market is called rational.

consumer behavior- the process of forming consumer demand for goods and services, which determines the development of their production and supply on the market.

The theory of consumption proceeds from the fact that typical common features are noted in consumer behavior:

Consumer demand depends on the level of income;

Each consumer seeks to obtain maximum utility;

The average consumer has a preference system;

Consumer demand is affected by the presence or absence of "related" goods.

Therefore, it is possible to form the basic principles of rational behavior of consumers in the market:

1. Limited income.

2. Rationality.

3. Systematic preferences.

4. Sovereignty.

The preference of consumers of goods is very difficult to take into account for reasons of the so-called Consumer Interaction Effects. Consider its types:

"Snob Effect" - purchases are made to emphasize their social position.

"The Veblen Effect" - purchases are made underline and defiantly.

"Implied quality effect" - goods of the same quality are sold in different stores at different prices.

"Effect of joining the majority" - the desire to be "not worse than others."

"irrational demand" - purchases are made only because someone bought it.

"speculative demand" - arises in conditions of shortage of goods.

The success or failure of the producer depends on the total behavior per second of the consumers. Such a phenomenon is called sovereignty consumer. It consists in the ability of the consumer to influence the producer. Necessary condition consumer sovereignty is the freedom of consumer choice.