This paper reports on the results of three experiments based on the neoclassical theory of consumer behavior. All these experiments were carried out with the aim of simulating real-world behavior. Nonparametric tests, applying the theory of revealed preference, show that a significant number of individuals exhibit inconsistent behavior. If nearly optimizing behavior is postulated, then most of ...

Afriat (1967) showed the equivalence of the strong axiom of revealed preference and the existence of a solution to a set of linear inequalities. From this solution he constructed a utility function rationalizing the choices of a competitive consumer. We extend Afriat’s theorem to a class of nonlinear budget sets. We thereby obtain testable implications of rational behavior for a wide class of e...

Consumer choices are often driven by multiple goals (e.g., career and family), each of which if viewed in isolation may appear to suggest conflicting choices. This article examines the effect of initial goal pursuit on consumers’ interest in pursuing unrelated or even conflicting goals. Four studies were conducted to test whether perceived goal progress hinders the pursuit of the focal goal. Th...

Alan Westin’s well-known and often-used privacy segmentation fails to describe privacy markets or consumer choices accurately. The segmentation divides survey respondents into “privacy fundamentalists,” “privacy pragmatists,” and the “privacy unconcerned.” It describes the average consumer as a “privacy pragmatist” who influences market offerings by weighing the costs and benefits of services a...

Developers of Consumer Electronics (CE) devices face the problem of the ever increasing amount of software that needs to be developed. At the same time the time to market of their products needs to decrease. In other domains Component Based software development aids in solving the resulting problems. However, existing component frameworks fail to meet some of the requirements specific for the C...

Considerable efforts are underway in the public and private sectors to increase the amount of information available to consumers when making health plan choices. The objective of this study was to examine the role of information in consumer health plan decisionmaking. A computer system was developed which provides different plan descriptions with the option of accessing varying types and levels...

Current health care policy emphasizes improving health outcomes and the efficacy of health care delivery by supporting informed consumer choices. At the same time, health information often involves uncertainty, and many people may lack the skills and knowledge to process this information, manage their health and health care, and make informed choices. Innumeracy, an element of poor health liter...

Traditional models of insurance choice are predicated on fully informed and rational consumers protecting themselves from exposure to financial risk. In practice, choosing an insurance plan is a complicated decision often made without full information. In this paper we combine new administrative data on health plan choices and claims with unique survey data on consumer information to identify r...

Recently, opportunities that a consumer has to make choices are increasing. And, needs of the remote consultation is rising as a means of making choices efficiently. However, the burden of the expert (consultant) is large in the existing remote consultation, because there is a large difference between numbers of customers and experts. Therefore, it is difficult to carry out a consultation that ...

In this paper we present an overview on different economic-based approaches for resource allocation in Grids. We consider economic models as a platform for matchmaking where consumer and producer of resources meet. The main contribution of the paper is to provide a deeper understanding of the choices one can make as far as economic approaches for resource allocation is concerned.