Sunday, July 20, 2008

From the neuroscience experiments: An add-in to the theory of Consumer Behaviour

Recent research has shown that when making decisions with immediate consequences, economic actors typically display a high degree of impatience. Consumers choose immediate pleasures instead of waiting a few days for much larger rewards. Consumers want "instant gratification."
However, people do not behave impatiently when they make decisions for the future. Few people plan to break their diets next week. Instead, people tend to splurge today and vow to exercise/diet/save tomorrow. From today's viewpoint, people prefer to act impatiently right now but to act patiently later.
Economists need to study its consequence on the savings behaviour and implications for optimal saving institutions.
Richa Shukla
(Globsyn Business School)

No comments: