The Rational Consumer brings together eight articles that represent key points in the development of Robert Hall's ideas on consumption over the past two decades. Since the late 1960s, Robert Hall's research has had a significant impact on the macroeconomic study of consumer behavior. The Rational Consumer brings together eight articles that represent key points in the development of Hall's ideas on consumption over the past two decades. In his introduction, Hall puts this work into perspective, tying together his ideas and pointing to how consumer behavior should work in the future given what he has discovered.Working within the standard intertemporal models of consumption - the overlapping generations model and the infinite lifetime model - Hall's contributions to methodology have been especially important. Particularly noteworthy was his challenge to the prevalent model in which current consumption was seen as deriving from expected future income. Hall argued that consumption was, instead, based upon the actual present discounted value of future income.ContentsIntroduction - The Allocation of Wealth among the Generations of a Family that Lasts Forever - A Theory of Inheritance - The Dynamic Effects of Fiscal Policy in an Economy with Foresight - Consumption Taxes versus Income Taxes: Implications for Economic Growth - Stochastic Implications of the Life Cycle-Permanent Income Hypothesis: Theory and Evidence - The Sensitivity of Consumption to Transitory Income: Estimates from Panel Data on Households (with Frederic S. Mishkin) - Intertemporal Substitution in Consumption - Survey of Research on the Random Walk of Consumption - The Role of Consumption in Economic Fluctuations

Consumption is the primary economic activity in our post-industrial society. We are consumers, not producers. Consumer behavior analysis is leading heterodox marketing scholarship and innovative applied behavioral work, with much to offer both constituencies. This volume shows how consumer behavior analysis fits within a larger-scale approach to marketing, consumer psychology, behavior analysis and organizational behavior management. Describing both theoretical analyses and empirical studies including laboratory experiments in e-commerce, in-store experiments in grocery shopping, and an analysis of the counterfeit goods market, this book is a working example of translational research. It contains tools and studies to help understand contemporary consumer behavior, particularly for those in marketing. Scholars will appreciate the theory and real-world applications evident in each chapter when considering their own research direction. All students of marketing theory, behavior analysis and consumer choice will find this collection a thought-provoking tool for further understanding of a new behavioral approach to marketing strategy, consumer decisions and marketing firms. This book comprises articles originally published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management.

The Case for Rational Optimism tackles a host of challenging subjects in an engaging, accessible, down-to-earth style. It is intellectually serious, ceaselessly intriguing, and devoid of banalities. While other books in this genre tend to be oriented toward self-help, this volume brings evolutionary biology, neuroscience, psychology, sociology, economics, and a keen sense of history to the topic. Robinson begins with three goals: making the case for feeling good about oneself, about humanity in general, and about the global situation. He addresses such seemingly disparate subjects as selfi shness versus altruism, mind and free will, human nature, and issues relating to economics, technology, the environment, and more. Unifying these ideas into a coherent philosophical whole are central concepts: evolution has endowed our species with more good qualities than bad, and why; those qualities, and our use of reason, are the foundations of civilization, and how; and, consistent with our nature, we make a better world by valuing human life therefore enabling others to fl ourish in ways they freely choose. The Case for Rational Optimism argues that the highly challenging conditions confronting early man created a Darwinian selective pressure for cooperation, even altruism, among members of a tribe. Th e author fi nds evidence for this in the way our brains work, and in observable human behavior. He argues against existential despair over the human condition. Even though there probably is no grand celestial design investing life with meaning, he considers this liberating, giving every person the freedom to craft their own meaning. To Robinson, whether sentient beings experience suff ering or joy is the only thing that matters; without emotive highs and lows, the Universe would hardly matter.

The theory of revealed preference has a long, distinguished tradition in economics but lacked a systematic presentation of the theory until now. This book deals with basic questions in economic theory and studies situations in which empirical observations are consistent or inconsistent with some of the best known economic theories.

Ît then rigorously analyses each model in the tradition of microeconomic theory, leading to a richer, more realistic picture of consumer behavior. Ran Spiegler analyses phenomena such as exploitative price plans in the credit market, complexity of financial products and other obfuscation practices, consumer antagonism to unexpected price increases, and the role of default options in consumer decision making. Spiegler unifies the relevant literature into three main strands: limited ability to anticipate and control future choices, limited ability to understand complex market environments, and sensitivity to reference points. Although the challenge of enriching the psychology of decision makers in economic models has been at the frontier of theoretical research in the last decade, there has been no graduate-level, theory-oriented textbook to cover developments in the last 10-15 years.

Intelligent, lively, humorous, and thoroughly engaging, "The Predictably Irrational" explains why people often make bad decisions and what can be done about it.

A comprehensive introduction to using the tools and techniques of neuroscience to understand how consumers make decisions about purchasing goods and services. Contrary to the assumptions of economists, consumers are not always rational actors who make decisions in their own best interests. The new field of behavioral economics draws on the insights of psychology to study non-rational decision making. The newer field of consumer neuroscience draws on the findings, tools, and techniques of neuroscience to understand how consumers make judgments and decisions. This book is the first comprehensive treatment of consumer neuroscience, suitable for classroom use or as a reference for business and marketing practitioners. After an overview of the field, the text offers the background on the brain and physiological systems necessary for understanding how they work in the context of decision making and reviews the sensory and perceptual mechanisms that govern our perception and experience. Chapters by experts in the field investigate tools for studying the brain, including fMRI, EEG, eye-tracking, and biometrics, and their possible use in marketing. The book examines the relation of attention, memory, and emotion to consumer behavior; cognitive factors in decision making; and the brain's reward system. It describes how consumers develop implicit associations with a brand, perceptions of pricing, and how consumer neuroscience can encourage healthy behaviors. Finally, the book considers ethical issues raised by the application of neuroscience tools to marketing. Contributors Fabio Babiloni, Davide Baldo, David Brandt, Moran Cerf, Yuping Chen, Patrizia Cherubino, Kimberly Rose Clark, Maria Cordero-Merecuana, William A. Cunningham, Manuel Garcia-Garcia, Ming Hsu, Ana Iorga, Philip Kotler, Carl Marci, Hans Melo, Kai-Markus Müller, Brendan Murray, Ingrid L. C. Nieuwenhuis, Graham Page, Hirak Parikh, Dante M. Pirouz, Martin Reimann, Neal J. Roese, Irit Shapira-Lichter, Daniela Somarriba, Julia Trabulsi, Arianna Trettel, Giovanni Vecchiato, Thalia Vrantsidis, Sarah Walker