Satisficing behavior is one of the most important subjects in consumer behavior studies. Satisficing consumers select any affordable bundle of items with utility larger than their satisfaction threshold. This contrasts to maximizing behavior, where the consumer selects the bundle of items with the highest possible utility within his or her budget constraint. The authors hypothesize that, all el...

This paper presents a decision tool intended to help achieve the goal of reduction in Green House Gas (GHG) emissions in the greater Philadelphia region by the year 2050. The goal is to explore and build a pre-prototype to evaluate the value of the role for agents, alternative data sources (Census, energy reports, surveys, etc.), GIS modeling, and various social science theories of human behavi...

Temporary price reductions (sales) are common for many goods and naturally result in large increase in the quantity sold. In previous work we found that the data support the hypothesis that these increases are, at least partly, due to dynamic consumer behavior: at low prices consumers stockpile for future consumption. In this paper we quantify the magnitude of the effect and derive the quantita...

People consume not only physical goods but also social interaction, and consumer choices depend on both intrinsic motivations (preferences for consumption) and extrinsic motivations (how choices impact social interactions). In this paper, we study how social identity, preference, and utility from social interaction shape consumer behavior and choice in the marketplace. Our contribution is two-f...

The burgeoning field of environmental valuation has raised serious doubts about the fundamental axioms of consumer choice theory, the general validity of the Walrasian system and methodological individualism. This paper examines these aspects of consumer choice theory, paying particular attention to the pioneering contributions of Georgescu-Roegen. We argue that evidence from psychology, game t...

Within the context of the consumption of goods or services the decisions made by individuals involve the choice between a set of discrete alternatives, such as the choice of mode of transport. The methodology for analyzing the consumer behavior are the models of discrete choice based on the Theory of Random Utility. These models are based on the definition of preferences through a utility funct...

Firms developing new products must often make a trade-o¤ between production costs and product quality: higher quality products are more valued by consumers, but also more costly to manufacture. We analyze this trade-o¤ in the context of demand uncertainty and strategic consumer behavior. Before the release of a product to a heterogeneous market of unknown size, a …rm must choose product quality...