For the normal operation of the market, for the development of the production of goods and services that people need, it is of no small importance consumer behavior... Its analysis allows business entities (primarily entrepreneurs) to trace the motives of the choice of buyers who are consumers of certain goods, to identify patterns of changes in consumer demand and, on this basis, to carry out business projects, to build a strategy for their market behavior.

A huge contribution to the study of consumer behavior patterns was made by marginalists... As well as marginal utility concept they put forward consumer theorywhom behavior(or consumer choice). Omitting the discussion and mathematical details, let us trace its key points. We will begin our acquaintance with this theory by defining the most important concepts on which it is based.

Consumer behavior – it is the process of creating consumer demand for a variety of goods and services. The actions of people are subjective, but the behavior of the average consumer easily shows the same characteristics.

By presenting a demand for certain goods, the consumer seeks to derive the greatest benefit for himself from their acquisition - the maximum utility, or the satisfaction that he receives when using the purchased goods and services.

However, the consumer comes across certain restrictions related to the amount of income that he has, as well as the level of market prices. These restrictions force the consumer to do choice between certain goods. In addition to the named restrictions, the consumer's choice is influenced by the existing system of preferences, taste, and attitude to fashion. Consumer demand is also influenced by the presence or absence of interchangeable and complementary goods on the market.

The main factor in consumer choice is utility this or that product. Let us dwell on its characteristics in more detail.

By consuming certain goods, people thereby, as it were, evaluate their usefulness for themselves. Hence comes the theory of utility, with which economists try to justify the process of price formation. Each buyer solves a problem for himself: how much of his product (money) he is ready to give in exchange for the benefit he needs, what to give preference to.

Consumer preferences capricious, changeable, due to many subjective factors. Let's consider some of them in more detail.

1. Factorimitations: the product is bought because it was bought by others (neighbors, colleagues, idols, friends). The product becomes fashionable, the herd feeling encourages people to buy it, although some independent consumers resist fashion trends.

2. The factor "conspicuous consumption ": some consumers buy in expensive places and sometimes acquire unnecessary expensive goods in order to designate their belonging to the high stratum of society through prestigious waste. An envious comparison of each other's "money successes" prompts them to waste money at a "befitting cost rate."

3. Factorurgency in the acquisition of goods: the same product may be more important at the moment than in the future, therefore, it has different marginal utility and price in time. Let's compare, say, the usefulness of a sheepskin coat in winter and summer, urgent and routine repairs. It is often said about consumers who are under the influence of this factor: “the one who gives soon gives doubly”.

4. The factor of rational consumption. Acting in accordance with the principles of rational consumption, the consumer seeks to obtain maximum utility from the acquired goods in the conditions of his existing budgetary constraints. Why, say, blueberries and apples are often in relatively high demand? Among other things, because they occupy the top lines in the rating of the usefulness of fruits and berries. In addition, many people know the English proverb, which says: "One apple a day - and you can do without a doctor."

The main factor of consumer choice, as we have already noted, is utility this or that product. She means the ability of a product (product, service) to meet specific needs of people.

Usefulness is a purely concept individual... What is good for one person may be completely useless for another. In economic theory, utility means everything that satisfies established needs and habits. The needs themselves can be generated by both biological needs and spiritual, social needs. People have been discovering the beneficial properties of things for centuries. Any material benefit has, as a rule, many properties that people need, but people evaluate these properties in different ways. Quite often, they look at goods in terms of personal tastes and preferences.

Subjective assessment of usefulness largely depends on the rarity of the products themselves and the volume of their consumption. It is known that as the needs are saturated, a person can feel the diminishing usefulness of each additional portion of the product. The additional utility that the consumer extracts from one additional unit of goods or services is called NS rare usefulness ... Let's analyze its essence with a specific example.

The property of saturation is inherent in people's needs. A hungry person, for example, can eat a lot of bread, but when he satisfies his hunger, each additional piece will be of less value to him. The utility of the last unit (in our example, bread) is called the marginal (or least).

Thus, the marginal utility is the increment of the total consumer effect from a certain good (goods, services), achieved through the consumption of each additional unit of this good. It is easy to establish that the total utility is the sum of the marginal utilities of all goods of a given type used by the consumer. Indeed, each new unit of commodity consumed brings a value of utility equal to its marginal utility.

Marginal utility is a fundamental concept of economic theory on which numerous theories and concepts of economic behavior and the choice of individuals and firms are built.

By examining consumer behavior, scientists have discovered laws of diminishing marginal utility . They explain the relationship between the values ​​of a thing and its usefulness.

There is a difference between the usefulness of things and their value. If useful things are available in unlimited quantities, they have no value, and vice versa. In other words, only those useful things, the supply of which is limited, have value. A man dying of thirst in the desert is ready to give all his things for a glass of water, and a miller (water mill) using a river will allow you to get water for free.

The foundations of the theory of marginal utility were first substantiated by the German economist Hermann Gossen and formed in the form of two laws of consumption.

The marginal utility is the higher, the less the available quantity of goods in comparison with the need. If the marginal utility is zero, then the given good exists in an amount that can fully satisfy the given need.

The fall in marginal utility as the consumer purchases additional units of a particular commodity is known as the law of diminishing marginal utility. This is Gossen's first law. Its essence is what prethe useful utility of each next unit of the good received at the moment is less than the utility of the previous unit.

Utility is assessed by the subject. By purchasing one product, consumers sacrifice the consumption of others; therefore, the choice of a consumer in a market economy is always associated not only with assessing the usefulness of the goods consumed, but also with comparing the prices of alternative choices. A change in price also changes consumer choice, as the real income of the consumer and the opportunity cost of this good change.

Consumer choice - it is a choice that maximizesthe utility function of rational consumption under ogre conditionslack of resources (cash income).

Recall that rational consumption is usually called the rational consumption of goods and services by a market entity that seeks to maximize the satisfaction of needs through the consumption of useful properties of economic goods, taking into account the existing restrictions on income and prices.

Thus, the next rule of consumer behavior is that every last unit of money spent on purchasing a product brings the same marginal utility. In other words, the buyer will demand until the marginal utility per unit of money spent on a given good is equal to the marginal utility per unit of money spent on another good.

The maximum utility lies in the fact that a consumer with certain restrictions (income, price) chooses a set of goods and services that most satisfies his needs, i.e. there is no need satisfied more or less than others.

At the given prices and budget, the consumer achievesmaximum utility when the ratio of marginal utilityto the price (weighted marginal utility) in the sameall consumed goods. This rule is called the second Gossen's law.

And yet, the criterion for the correctness of the decision to buy or not to buy a product is not general, and not even marginal utility, but marginal utility per ruble spent.

The additional satisfaction received per ruble spent is the best criterion, since it combines both the satisfaction factor and the cost factor, and both of these factors are necessary for a reasonable comparison of goods with each other.

In other words, each subsequent consumed unit of the good adds less to the total utility than the previous unit. The law of diminishing marginal utility reflects the relationship between the amount of goods consumed and the degree of satisfaction from the consumption of each additional unit.

Although the total utility gradually increases with the increase in the number of goods, the marginal utility of the marginal unit in the series of goods consumed is steadily decreasing. The maximum satisfaction of the general utility is achieved at the point at which the marginal utility is zero. This means that the good fully satisfies the need, since the utility of the good is the ability to satisfy one or more human needs. If further consumption is harmful (the marginal utility of the goods is negative), then the overall utility is negative. Consequently, the more good we have, the less value each additional unit of this good has for us.

To explain consumer behavior, economists use a method of constructing budget lines and indifference curves.

Budget line(see Fig. 1) shows various combinations of two products that can be purchased by a consumer for a fixed amount of money income. The main factor influencing the location of the budget line will be the value of the consumer's monetary income and the price of products.

Any point on the budget line is available to the consumer, i.e. his income and existing prices allow him to buy any set of goods X and Y: see presentation

Indifference curve- a graph showing different combinations of two products that have the same utility for the consumer (see Fig. 2). This graph is often referred to as a curve of equal utility - all sets of two products will be equally useful to the consumer. The usefulness that he loses by giving up some amount of one product is compensated by the benefit from the additional amount of another product.

As we go down the indifference curve, we substitute one product for another. Moreover, each successive portion of the substituted product attributable to each additional unit of the substituting product is called the marginal rate of substitution.

It is easy to see that in the calculation for each next unit of growth of one product, the second decreases less and less. The replacement rate is falling because our products are still different and do not completely replace each other. The consumer wants them combinations, and not a complete displacement of one by the other. The fall in the marginal rate of substitution leads to a convex shape of the indifference curve with respect to the origin. See presentation.

In trying to understand consumer behavior and predict their next actions, economists compose whole indifference curve maps(see fig. 3): See presentation

It is no longer one, but a whole set of indifference curves located in the same coordinate system. They also reflect different combinations of the two products, but also at different levels of satisfaction. Different curves differ from each other in the level of utility - the further from the origin of coordinates the curve is, the higher the total utility of the combinations reflected by it.

To show the picture consumer balance or the equilibrium position of the consumer (see Fig. 4), the budget line is combined with the map of indifference curves. This is how the points of greatest consumer preference are found ( points of optimal consumer choice).See presentation

Where the budget line concerns the most distant indifference curve, a consumer with a certain income and at given prices will buy a specific amount of two products, receiving for himself the maximum total utility. All other points on the graph field reflect either combinations with less utility, or combinations that our consumer simply cannot afford.

The knowledge gained during the analysis of consumer behavior helps the entrepreneur to build the optimal line of behavior for his company for specific conditions. In particular, this knowledge allows him to determine how much to increase prices for goods of higher quality and set a limit for this increase, and vice versa: it allows him to understand how much the price should be reduced without risking trade revenue if demand for this product decreases.

The size, structure and dynamics of consumer demand is investigated by the theory of consumer behavior based on marginalism. Its initial principles are the recognition, firstly, of the economic sovereignty of the consumer (that is, the ability to influence the supply of goods through demand) and, secondly, the rationality of the consumer's behavior if he gets maximum utility with limited income.

Usefulness is the degree of pleasure (satisfaction) from the consumption of a product. The usefulness of a product is a purely individual concept that depends on many factors. The main factors influencing consumer behavior are shown in the diagram presented in the following figure:

Fig. 2. Factors influencing consumer behavior

If the tastes of the consumer are constant, and the consumption function is continuous, then any infinitesimal increase in the quantity of goods corresponds to an increase in the total utility. However, it grows at an ever slower pace due to the fact that the marginal utility of a given commodity (or added value) brought by the last unit tends to decline. This is the law of diminishing marginal utility. (The 57th portion of ice cream at one time, for example, will be less tasty for you than the 1st).

Thus, the theory of consumer behavior distinguishes between the concepts of general and marginal utility. Total utility is the aggregate of benefits or satisfaction that is obtained from the consumption of a particular good or a set of goods and services. And the marginal utility is additional benefit or satisfaction received from each additional unit of goods or services. That is, marginal utility can be defined as the increment in total utility from the consumption of an additional unit of goods. As you have seen, as each additional unit of goods is consumed, the total increases and, on the contrary, the marginal utility decreases, which is reflected in the theory of consumer behavior as the law of diminishing marginal utility.

Although the category of utility is subjective, economists use it to identify patterns in individual demand. In this case, there are two ways to assess utility: cardinal and ordinal. The cardinalistic approach is associated with an attempt to calculate the value of utility based on the use of a conventional unit - utile. Proponents of the ordinal approach argue that utility cannot be quantified, but based on preferences, ordinal utility can be identified, that is, to describe consumer behavior by ranking.

According to the theory of consumer behavior, each consumer, using subjective utility, estimates his need for a corresponding product. That is, he will present demand for commodity A until the marginal utility per one monetary unit spent on commodity A equals the marginal utility per one monetary unit spent on another commodity - B. This is called the rule of maximizing the utility of an individual consumer. , and algebraically it is expressed as an equilibrium equation for the demand of an individual consumer.

This equation shows how the consumer makes a purchase choice. For example, if the marginal utility of good A is 35 and its price is 15, and the marginal utility of good B is 40, and its price is 20, then the consumer will prefer good A over B. Why? Since here the quotient from dividing the marginal utility by the price turns out to be greater for commodity A than for commodity B. But if the consumer continues to prefer commodity A and purchase it, then, according to the law of diminishing marginal utility, the marginal utility of commodity A will decrease. In this case, the benefit from the consumption of goods A and B will become the same, since the ratios of marginal utility to price for both goods become equal. (This is the situation of Buridan's donkey: in ancient mythology there was such an intelligent donkey who loved to philosophize, “think rationally”, for which the poor little one paid with his life - when he was offered a choice of two absolutely identical quantitatively and qualitatively heaps of hay, but located from him in opposite directions at exactly the same distance, then the donkey, despite all its intelligence, found it difficult to make a choice. side, and there is the same amount of hay, and the quality of this hay is identical. The outcome, unfortunately, is tragic: the clever donkey died of hunger, since the period of choice dragged on in time).

It is not so tragic, even outwardly almost imperceptible in everyday practice, the situation of Buridan's donkey for an ordinary buyer, when some retired grandmother, almost intuitively and, of course, very quickly “changes” product A in favor of product B. the consumer would continue to consume good A, then, according to the law of diminishing marginal utility, it will decrease, for example, for good A, to 25. In this case, the utility for the consumer from each monetary unit spent on good A will be less than from spent on commodity B. Since the ratio of marginal utility to price will be less for commodity A than for commodity B. Hence, a rational consumer will refuse to consume A, replace it in consumption with commodity B. After all, the rationality of the consumer is precisely about maximizing utility.

An important element of the theory of consumer behavior is the analysis of indifference curves and budget lines, the implementation method of which was developed by the Italian economist Pareto and the English economist Hicks.

The graphical representation of different combinations of two economic goods that have the same utility for the consumer is called the indifference curve. Many indifference curves of one consumer form an indifference map. At the same time, the more to the right and higher the indifference curve is located, the more satisfaction the combinations of the two benefits presented by it bring. In turn, the line of the budgetary limit informs about the most advantageous set of products for the consumer, the equation expressed by such a line can be written as follows: I = P1 Q1 + P2 Q2, where I is the consumer's income; P1; P2 - the price of goods A and B; Q1; Q2 - the number of goods A and B.

The point of contact of the indifference curve with the line of the budgetary limit shows the equilibrium position of the consumer (consumer's optimum) (See in the figure below). It is achieved when the ratios of the marginal utilities of individual goods to their prices are equal: MU1: P1 = MU2: P2.

Fig. 3. Consumer balance

The impact on consumer choice of prices and income is described using income and substitution effects. The income effect is an increase in the consumption of a normal good as a result of a fall in its price due to an increase in real income caused by a decrease in prices, and vice versa, a decrease in the consumption of a normal good as a result of an increase in its price due to a decrease in real income caused by a rise in prices. The substitution effect is the consumer's reaction to an increase in the price of a normal good included in the consumer basket, leading to a reduction in the purchase of a more expensive good and to an increase in the purchase of goods that can replace those that have risen in price. For most normal goods, the substitution and income effects work in the same direction: they increase the quantity of the required good. But inferior goods are an exception: here the income effect is much greater than the substitution effect, which leads to a decrease in demand, despite the reduction in the price of goods.

Along with the general principles for choosing a rational consumer choice, there are features that are determined by the influence of market demand on it, as well as tastes and preferences. These factors determine the functional or non-functional nature of the demand.

Functional demand is the demand for a product due to the quality of the product. Non-functional demand - demand due to factors not related to the product itself. Of particular importance for non-functional demand are cases of mutual influence of market and individual demand, which the American economist H. Leibenstein called the effect of joining the majority (the consumer buys the same as other consumers), the snob effect (the desire to stand out from the crowd) and the Veblen effect (prestigious or conspicuous consumption).

Functional and non-functional demand in economics is often correlated with normal and abnormal consumer behavior. Normal consumer behavior is described by the law of demand. In other words, with a growing price for a certain product, its consumption, as a rule, will decrease. When the price falls, the consumer will buy more goods. Abnormal consumer behavior means that consumer behavior is unpredictable, he reacts to market processes in a completely different way than most of its subjects.

Consumer behavior is influenced by the presence of uncertainty and risk. Uncertainty is a situation characterized by a lack of information about probable future events. Risk is a situation, the outcomes of which are known, but it is not known which of them will come exactly.

And now, taking into account the considerations just cited, let us ask the question: how is the “behavior” of demand, its elasticity, modified in the context of the global economic catastrophe? First of all, it should be noted that the volume of demand is, of course, shrinking, because household incomes are shrinking and unemployment is growing. This, of course, is typical of both Western countries and Russia. However, according to many parameters related to the operation of the law of demand and the dynamics of its elasticity, the situation in the Russian Federation turns out to be specific and, as a rule, not in our favor. Remember the outcome of interviews with marketing specialists from Yaroslavl enterprises? In the West, there was still a little market, but in Russia there is none at all. So what features could there be in the modification of the phenomena under consideration?

It should be noted that the trend of many anti-crisis measures of governments in the West was aimed at strengthening state regulation of the economy, and thus at narrowing the market area. In our country, non-interference of the state in the market sphere was declared to a greater extent. But you and I have already noted that, contrary to the declarations, we simply did not have this sphere: what is usually declared market-based in the legal sense, according to the real economic state, acts as a zone of sovereign influence of a monopolist. As a result, if we take, for example, the price elasticity coefficient, then its practical significance in the West in the conditions of an economic catastrophe has significantly decreased. And in the Russian Federation it had no practical significance before.

The situation with the attitude of the state to stimulating demand in the new conditions looks differently, in comparison with the textbook recommendations designed for an ordinary, non-catastrophic situation. Thus, the mass protest action of hired workers, which engulfed the whole of France on March 19, 2009, was caused, in the opinion of the participants, by just insufficient "injections" of the state for the purpose of such stimulation. At the same time, both the President and the Prime Minister of the country did not speak about the illegality of such claims of the protesters, but justified themselves only by the impossibility of satisfying them due to the complication of the financial situation in connection with the crisis.

In this regard, I consider the remarks of Academician, Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Sciences A. Nekipelov, made five years ago and still, in my opinion, relevant today, to be fair (See: Arguments and Facts. April 1-7, 2009. No. 14) that with the onset of a global economic catastrophe, China found itself in a much more serious situation than Russia. After all, if our country depends practically only on the export of raw materials, then China depends on the export of a very wide range of goods. Therefore, the sharp decline in the demand of American and European buyers for Chinese goods has undoubtedly created a serious problem for the exporting country. But China tried to fill the “hole” in external demand as much as possible by stimulating the growth of domestic demand. The fact that the anti-crisis program of the PRC government spelled out a large-scale construction of housing and roads (although there, unlike our country, special routes have already been built, allowing, for example, transporting vegetables from one end of the country to another in just a day) makes a fantastic impression. At the same time, Chinese manufacturers received a number of preferences from the government aimed at boosting demand. So, since January 1, 2009, the list of options has been expanded, with the help of which the company can return part of the tax payments. This allowed the business to renew capacity and stimulated domestic demand for products. In addition, the preferential VAT rate for small businesses was reduced from 4-6% (for other businesses - 17%) to 3%. Inhabitants of Chinese cities began to distribute coupons for goods (primarily for household appliances), which can be purchased in certain supermarkets. And the villagers began to receive benefits in the amount of 10-13% of the cost of goods of their own production.

In the Russian Federation, A. Nekipelov admits, the government paid some attention to the real sector, focusing on the support of strategic enterprises. But these measures, by definition, could not become comprehensive. They also failed to become effective if support was provided to enterprises located in the middle of the production chain. Indeed, in this case, the enterprises with the money received purchased the necessary means of production, manufactured products, but then it turned out that there was no demand for these products. This means that the state either itself had to buy this product, or admit that it wasted money on a deliberately ineffective business.

Indicative in this respect, according to A. Nekipelov, is the statement by the then Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation A. Kudrin about the expectation of a second wave of the banking crisis. What is the reason for this expectation? It turns out that the government of the Russian Federation gave money that Russian banks, instead of lending to the real sector, were exported abroad, but not in full (it turns out that this is unfortunately!), Since some of this money was still distributed to enterprises in the form of loans. But then it turned out that these loans would not be returned, because there is no demand for the products of these enterprises. And A. Nekipelov reasonably, in my opinion, suggests that the government launch a wave of demand along the entire production chain. For example, initiate road construction.

As for the drop in external demand, the state, according to A. Nekipelov, could compensate for this drop. How? By reducing the withdrawal of funds from exporting industries, preserving them the opportunity to fully implement the started production and investment programs, and finance the gap in the budget at the expense of the state's foreign exchange funds. Then, the academician believes, the economy would simply “not notice” the fallen external demand. That is, there would be no decline in production, non-payments would not increase, taxes would go to the budget. This means there would be no need to spend huge sums of money on unemployment benefits. At the same time, A. Nekipelov rightly notes, the $ 200 billion that the government had already spent on the ruble exchange rate correction by March 2009 would have been enough until the very end of the year.

These problems, which have emerged with the deployment of the crisis-catastrophe since the fall of 2008, have exacerbated many times with the announcement of economic sanctions by the West of Russia in 2014. True, the new situation has created objective prerequisites for stimulating domestic production, and therefore for optimizing the situation in terms of supply and demand, consumer behavior of the population of the Russian Federation.

These are the beginnings of microeconomic theory, associated, as you have seen, with questions of supply and demand, consumer behavior. These questions precede the consideration in microeconomics of the problem of the firm's activities, its costs and revenues.

A number of typical common features can be noted in the behavior of the average consumer: n consumer demand depends on the level of his income, which affects the size of the consumer's personal budget; n each consumer seeks to get “everything that is possible” for his money, that is, to maximize the total utility;

n the average consumer has a distinct system of preferences, his own taste and attitude to fashion; n consumer demand is influenced by the presence or absence of interchangeable or complementary goods on the markets

Modern science defines consumer behavior using the theory of marginal utility and the method of indifference curves

Proponents of this concept determine the value based on the subjective assessments of buyers. And the subjective value of a product depends on two factors: n on the available stock of this good; n the degree of saturation of the need for it

Marginal utility is the additional utility that a consumer extracts from one unit of a good or service.

Utility, or utility, is subjective satisfaction, or pleasure, received by the consumer from the consumption of a set of goods and services.

Total utility is the total utility from the consumption of all available units of the good. Marginal utility - additional utility from the consumption of one additional unit of a good or service

Total utility is determined by summing marginal utility indicators. For example, a consumer buys 10 apples; their total utility is 10 yutils, and the marginal is determined by the formula U 11 - U 10 MU = _____ = U 11 - U 10 11 -10 1

The rule of consumer behavior is that the marginal utility obtained per ruble spent on one good should be equal to the marginal utility received per ruble spent on another good (utility maximization rule)

Income effect: if the price of a product falls, then the real income (purchasing power) of the consumer of the product increases. He can buy more of this product for the same income.

Substitution Effect: A decrease in the price of a product means that it is now cheaper in relation to all other goods. A decrease in the price of this product will stimulate the consumer to substitute this product for other goods. It becomes a more attractive product in relation to others.

But there are such goods that are not replaced by anything, and will be purchased at any price - "Giffen's goods"

An indifference curve is an image on a plane of many sets of goods that have the same utility. When choosing a set from such a set, the consumer does not care which of the sets to take

The properties of indifference curves are based on the assumptions of the ordinal concept. 1 The indifference curve that lies above and to the right of the other curve represents the bundles of goods that are more preferable for a given consumer. 2 Indifference curves have a negative slope (X, Y products).

3 Indifference curves never intersect. 4 An indifference curve can be drawn through every point in quadrant space and we will have an indifference map

Indifference map - a set of indifference curves, where each indifference curve that is higher than the original is preferred

5 The marginal rate of substitution decreases as it moves down the indifference curve. The marginal rate of substitution of goods X for goods Y (MRSX, Y) is the quantity of goods Y that the consumer agrees to cede in exchange for an increase in the quantity of goods X by one unit so that the overall level of satisfaction remains unchanged:

Indifference curves only show the possibility of replacing one product with another, but do not determine which set of products the consumer considers most beneficial for himself. This information is provided by a budget cap showing which consumer packs can be purchased for a given amount of money.

The choice of a set of goods depends on the prices of goods and the consumer's budget. Let the consumer spend his budget (I) on the purchase of two goods: product X at the price Px, product Y at the price P, then the equation of the budget line will have the form.

• Cross elasticity of demand and income elasticity of demand
• The main areas of use of the theory of supply and demand, elasticity

• Budget lines and indifference curves. Consumer balance

• Production function. The law of diminishing marginal productivity. Aggregate and marginal product

• Economic costs as the sum of external and internal costs
• Fixed, variable, gross, average and marginal costs
• The relationship between short-term and long-term costs

• Pure competition. Maximizing profit in the short term
• Long-term profit maximization. Pure competition and efficiency
• Manufacturing resource market and income distribution
• Labor market and wages: its essence, functions, forms and systems

The main provisions of the theory of consumer behavior

Further consideration of the most important element of the market mechanism, which is demand, presupposes: a deeper declaration of the law of demand, generalization of the demand of individual consumers, and the construction of an economic model of consumer behavior. This issue was dealt with by representatives of the Austrian school K. Menger, E. Boehm - Bawerk, F. Wieser.

Consumer goal- to receive goods and services to satisfy their needs and pleasure, i.e. maximize utility. Utility is the ability of an economic good to satisfy human needs. Distinguish between general and marginal utility.

General utility is the usefulness of a certain stock of good. The total utility increases with the increase in the stock of goods to the maximum value, and then decreases.

Marginal utility is the utility of an additional unit of good. The marginal utility is steadily decreasing, and as the total utility decreases, it becomes negative.

Utility function is a function that shows the decrease in the marginal utility of a good with an increase in its quantity.

MU - marginal utility is equal to the partial derivative of the total utility of the given good.

The main tenets of the theory of consumer behavior:

1. The plurality of types of consumption and the consumer's desire for a variety of consumer set.
2. Desaturation. The consumer seeks to have more goods. The marginal utility of goods is positive.
3. Transitivity. Consistency and consistency in consumer tastes.
4. Substitution. The consumer agrees to refuse a small amount of a good if he is offered in return a larger amount of a good - a substitute.
5. Diminishing marginal utility.

The consumer's equilibrium position (in cardinalistic theory) will be achieved if the consumer's income is distributed in such a way that the weighted marginal utilities are equal.

Consumer choice is a choice that maximizes the utility function of a rational consumer in conditions of limited resources (money income). The function is maximized when the consumer's monetary income is distributed in such a way that every last ruble spent on the acquisition of any good brings the same marginal utility.

The ratio between the marginal utilities of two goods is equal to the ratio of their prices.

There is an equality of marginal benefits and marginal costs of the consumer.

Consumer behavior

Actions directly related to the acquisition, consumption and disposal of products, services, ideas, including decision-making processes preceding this and subsequent actions, characterize consumer behavior. The need arising from the need or desire to consume various wealth (both material and spiritual) is considered the economic motive of a person. Needs form demand, which largely depends on the tastes and preferences of people, that is, on their subjective perception of the product or consumer preferences.

In economic theory, consumption refers to the process of using the results of production to meet certain needs.

Consumer behavior is methodologically based on the theory of marginal utility. The consumer buys goods and services to satisfy his needs, that is, he wants to receive a certain utility from them. Consequently, utility is the pleasure or satisfaction that consumers receive from the purchased goods and services.

All people are capable of comparing satisfaction from different activities and products, and preferring some types over others. These preferences are "pure" as they do not depend on income and prices. "Pure" preferences do not yet represent actual buying choices. Desire becomes a choice, and the individual becomes a buyer when his preferences lead to actual purchases in the market. However, choices, as opposed to desires, are limited by income and prices.

Consumer behavior theory also assumes that choice-based buyers behave rationally.

The mechanism organizing consumer behavior is a motive, and the process of forming a motive is motivation.

First, the reasons for the motive are determined on the basis of the social and psychological characteristics of the consumer and the necessary requirements for the quality and quantity of goods. Next, a purchase plan is formed: the choice of a goal (quantity and quality of goods), ways to achieve it (how the goods on the market will be purchased), as well as an assessment of the subjective probability of achieving success and predicting the consequences.

As we know, the marginal utility per ruble of production while maximizing the total utility from consumption is the same for all products. In this case, the price of the product reflects its marginal utility, that is, the equilibrium of the consumer sets in with the unchanged purchasing power of money, which has received the name "Consumer surplus". The meaning of this concept is as follows: the consumer pays for each unit of goods the same price, equal to the marginal utility of the last, least valuable unit for him. And this means that on each unit of goods that precedes the last, the consumer receives some benefit.

So, consumer surplus- this is the difference between the amount that the consumer would agree to pay and the amount that he actually paid.

Let us explain the idea of ​​consumer surplus graphically (Fig. 6.1 a). Let's draw a line through the points that characterizes the consumer's demand for a certain product.

Rice. 6.1. Consumer surplus.

Point Р1- the maximum price that a consumer can and is willing to pay for one unit of goods. This is the marginal price of the product.

If she turns out to be higher P1 the consumer would not buy the product at all.

The consumer is willing to pay for the second unit of goods P2(the law of diminishing utility), etc. The real price of a product on the market Pn. Consequently, buying the first unit of goods, the consumer receives a consumer surplus in the amount of Р1 - Рn, buying a second unit of goods - in the amount P2 - Pp etc.

In the graph, consumer surplus is the area bounded at the top of the demand curve and at the bottom by the price line. The lower the price, the greater the amount of consumer surplus.

For example (see Fig. 6.1 b), if a consumer purchased only one unit of goods, then he would agree to pay 80 rubles. For the second unit, the consumer would pay 60 rubles, the buyer estimates the third unit at 40 rubles, and this marginal utility will determine the market price of all three units. Consequently, the market price paid by the consumer when buying three goods will be: 40 + 40 + 40 = 120 rubles. If we sum up the individual estimates of the marginal utility of each of the three units, then it would turn out: 80 + 60 + 40 = 180 rubles. Thus, when buying three units of goods, the consumer's surplus amounted to: 180–120 = 60 rubles.

Budget lines

We already know that the consumer, in his preferences for certain goods, runs into very significant obstacles: the price of the goods and the consumer's own income, that is, his budgetary possibilities. Let's consider the latter in more detail.

Consumer capabilities are characterized by lines budget constraint(budget lines). They show what combinations of two goods can be purchased at a certain price level for these goods and the amount of money income. If a buyer wants to buy a product X by price Px and goods Y by price Рy in certain quantities, then for the purchase of these two goods, he can allocate a sum of money equal to I, where / is the consumer's income.

The budget constraint equation is:

where Рх, Рy, Qx, Qy- respectively, prices and quantities of goods X and Y.

The meaning of the budget constraint is that the consumer's income is equal to the amount of expenses for the purchase of goods X and Y. Transforming the previous equality, we get:

and

If the consumer decides to spend all the income only on the purchase of the product A, then he will buy this product by the amount I / Px... If the consumer decides to spend all the income only on the purchase of the product V, then he will buy this product for the value of I / Py.

Let's draw a line through the indicated points, which will be called consumer budget line(fig. 6.2).

Rice. 6.2. Budget line.

Any point on this line characterizes possible combinations of goods. X and 7 on which the consumer can spend his money and is available to the consumer. All sets located above and to the right of the budget line are inaccessible to the consumer (dot V), how to purchase a set V does not allow the real income of the consumer. Point WITH is achievable for the consumer, but in this case the consumer will not extract the maximum utility from his income, and therefore it is less preferable. The slope of the budget line is characterized by a negative price ratio (-Px / Py), which means the quantity of goods Y, which must be discarded in order to acquire an additional unit of goods within the cost of real income.

The specified price ratio measures the opportunity cost of consuming a good X and determines the rate of substitution of goods Y commodity X.

The behavior of the budget line obeys certain patterns. A change in income (while the prices of goods remain unchanged) leads to a shift in the line of the budgetary limit parallel to itself, since the price ratio (the slope of the line of the budgetary limit) will not change.

If the consumer's income decreases, the budget line shifts in parallel to the left and down towards the origin of the coordinate axes (line I ")(fig. 6.3). Conversely, if a consumer's income rises, his consumer ability will also increase and he will be able to buy more. The budget line will move up and parallel to the right of the origin of the coordinate axes. The distance from the budget line to the origin of the coordinate axes depends on the amount of consumers' income.

Rice. 6.3. Budget line changes.

The slope of the line depends on the ratio of commodity prices X and Y.

First case: the prices of both goods increased proportionally, that is, they increased by the same number of times, while the value of the consumer's income did not change. Consumer opportunities have decreased, and the consumer's budget line has shifted parallel down to the center of the coordinate axes (corresponds to our example with the line I ").

Second case: the prices of both goods have decreased proportionally, which will mean an increase in consumer opportunities (income effect), and the consumer's budget line will shift upwards in parallel from the origin of the coordinate axes.

If prices and consumer incomes simultaneously increase or fall, then the position of the consumer's budget line will not change. Hence the conclusion: the meaning of income indexation is that the state can ensure (at least) a proportional shift in prices and incomes in order to prevent a decrease in the standard of living of the population. Social protection policy is, first of all, to ensure that the rise in prices does not outstrip the growth of income.

Third case: there was a change in the prices of goods relative to each other. The price of the product X remained the same, the product Y- decreased (Fig. 6.3). In this case, the consumer will be able to buy more units of the product. Y without prejudice to the purchase of goods NS. This is where the income effect works. If the price of the goods Y increased, then the consumer without prejudice to the purchase of goods X will buy fewer units of a product Y.

To answer the question of how to maximize shopping satisfaction on a tight budget, we need to know which product bundle we prefer. Our preferences are expressed through indifference curves.

Indifference curve is a line, each point of which represents a combination of two goods that have the same general utility for consumption, and therefore the consumer does not care which of these sets to choose (Fig. 6.4).

Rice. 6.4. Indifference curves.

For example, two products X and three goods Y have the same overall utility as three goods X and two goods Y, etc. The refusal from one of the goods is compensated by the receipt of another. To these product combinations X and Y the consumer is therefore equally indifferent. However, any combination of products marked are equally good for the consumer, as they bring the same utility.

If, from the point of view of a given consumer, the sets and are equivalent, then the points A and B lie on the same indifference curve. The indifference curve that lies above and to the right of the other curve represents the bundles of goods that are more preferable for a given consumer. So, set C contains the same amount of product Y as set A, but more product quantity X. Indifference curves farther from the origin correspond to a higher level of satisfaction. For example, since the curve U2 is to the right of the curve U1 then any set lying on the indifference curve U2, preferable to any set on the indifference curve U1. The set of indifference curves for an individual consumer and two different products is called a card of indifference.

Moving along the indifference curve from top to bottom means that the consumer is giving up a certain amount of the product. Y to get additional quantity of goods X. The convex nature of the curve suggests that the consumer is dealing with goods that are not considered fungible. The quantity of one product, from which the consumer is ready to give up in order to get an additional unit of another, while remaining at a given level of satisfaction of needs (on a given indifference curve), is called the Marginal Rate of Substitution (MRS). The marginal rate of substitution can be represented as the ratio:

In fig. 6.5 shows that as consumption of goods X increases for each additional unit (ΔX)(movement from point A to the point D) quantity of goods Y, from which the consumer is ready to refuse ( ΔY), decreases, i.e., the marginal rate of substitution decreases.

Rice. 6.5. Marginal rate of substitution.

Indeed, the less scarce commodity X becomes, the less quantity of commodity Y we are willing to sacrifice in order to further increase its consumption. In other words, an increase in the quantity of good X leads to a decrease in its marginal utility. The slope of the indifference curve at each point is determined by the marginal rate of substitution multiplied by 1.

The nature of the indifference curve has a downward slope - a negative slope, because the ratio of Y and X has an inverse relationship (see the demand curve).

Indifference curves can take different forms. In fig. 6.6. indifference curve U1 shows that the consumer is dealing with goods that do not differ in absolute fungibility.

Rice. 6.6. Types of indifference curves.

For two completely interchangeable goods, the indifference curve will look like a straight line (Mrs= const). Usually such goods are treated as one.

Curve U2- goods cannot replace each other at all (right and left shoes). Such goods rigidly complement each other (the indifference curve is mutually perpendicular segments).

Curve U3 shows that the more a consumer has a product, the more he would like to have it. The indifference curve is concave towards the origin.

If you combine the indifference curve map and the budget constraint in one graph, you can determine which product mix the consumer chooses to get the most satisfaction (Figure 6.7).

Rice. 6.7. Optimum consumption.

The consumer will not choose a point A, in which the budget line crosses some indifference curve U1 and point V, because they are on a lower indifference curve. He will pick a point E, in which the budget line touches the indifference curve U2 above the curve U1.

Optimal product set for the consumer E contains QEX units of goods X and QEY- units of goods Y.

At the point E(point of optimum, or consumer equilibrium) the slopes of the indifference curve and the budget line coincide, therefore:

Having regrouped the members of the last proportion, we get:

So, at the consumer's optimum point, the ratio of marginal utilities is equal to the ratio of prices of consumed goods.

This condition is true for the problem of consumer choice with any number of goods.

In the case of two goods, the consumer maximizes his utility if two conditions are simultaneously fulfilled. The first is that Mrs for these goods should be equal to the ratio of their prices. The second condition is that the income allocated for the purchase of these goods is spent in full.

1. The theory of consumer behavior assumes that choice buyers behave rationally. Buyers always choose a product based on their income, which, under certain restrictions on retail prices, can best meet their needs.

2. The theory of utility assumes that the prices of goods are based on their value, defined as the subject's judgment about the significance of the goods at his disposal. Utility maximization rule in accordance with what has been said, it consists in such a distribution of the consumer's monetary income, in which the last ruble spent on the purchase of each type of product would bring the same additional (marginal) utility. Only changes in consumer preferences, food prices and incomes will be able to bring the consumer out of equilibrium.

3. According to the law of diminishing marginal utility, the value of each subsequent good when its stock increases, falls and reaches zero at the point of full saturation (Gossen's first law).

4. The consumer will receive the maximum utility from the consumption of a given set of goods provided that the marginal utilities of all consumed goods are equal (Gossen's second law).

5. The income effect is a change in the demand for a product as a result of fluctuations in the purchasing power of monetary income, caused in turn by a change in prices. The substitution effect consists in reducing (increasing) the consumption of a certain good while increasing (reducing) the consumption of other goods, if the price for it rises (decreases).

6. Consumer surplus is the difference between the amount that the consumer would agree to pay and the amount that he actually paid.

7. A budget line is used to depict the multitude of product kits available to the consumer. The lines of the budgetary limit show which combinations of two goods can be purchased at a certain price level for these goods and the amount of money income. The meaning of the budget constraint is that the consumer's income is equal to the amount of expenses for the purchase of goods Huh.

8. The indifference curve is a line, each point of which represents a combination of two goods that have the same overall utility for consumption, and therefore the consumer does not care which of these sets to choose. The indifference curve is usually convex towards the origin.

The consumer's optimum is achieved at the point where the budget line touches the indifference curve. At the consumer's optimum point, the ratio of marginal utilities is equal to the ratio of prices of consumed goods.