Theory of Consumer Behavior

 

The Theory of Consumer Behavior, like the Law of Demand, can be explained by the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility.Consumer Behavior is how consumers allocate their money incomes among goods and services.

In economic theory, consumer behavior is addressed within the concepts of consumer preference and consumer surplus. Consumers' surplus is the excess amount a consumer is willing to pay for a good, as opposed to doing without it, over the amount actually paid for the good. A consumers' surplus can exist only within the context of the concept of diminishing marginal utility. This concept holds that, at some point, consumption of additional incremental quantities of a good will yield successively smaller increases in utility. Thus, it is assumed that an individual will be willing to pay more for the first unit of consumption than for a unit consumed at some point further along.

Consumer Choice and Budget Constraint:

• Rational behavior:
  • The consumer is a rational person, who tries to use his or her money income to derive the greatest amount of satisfaction, or utility, from it. Consumers want to get "the most for their money" or, to maximize their total utility. Rational behavior also "requires" that a consumer not spend too much money irrationally by buying tons of items and stock piling them for the future, or starve themselves by buying no food at all. Consumers (we assume) all engage in rational behavior.
• Preferences:
  • Each consumer has preferences for certain of the goods and services that are available in the market. Buyers also have a good idea of how much marginal utility they will get from successive units of the various products they might purchase. However, the amount of marginal & total utility that the people will get will be different for every individuals in the group because all individuals have different taste and preferenes.
• Budget Constraint:
  • The consumer has a fixed, limited amount of money income. Because each consumer supplies a finite amount of human and property resources to society, he or she earns only limited income.
  • Every consumer faces a budget constraint
  • There is infinite demand, but limited income
• Prices:
  • Goods are scarce because of the demand for them. Each consumers purchase is a part of the total demand in a market. However, since consumers have a limited income, they must choose the most satisfying combination of goods based partially on prices. For producers, a lower price is needed in order to induce a consumer to buy more of their product.
  
  Lecture Note Series No: 5