Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Garcia-Torres, Abraham 
Author-Email: abrahamgarciatorres@gmail.com
Author-Workplace-Name: UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University
Title: Consumer behaviour: evolution of preferences and the search for novelty
Abstract: Evolution of consumers' preferences has been recognized by many scholars 
	 as being key to understanding technological change. However, mainstream 
	 economics cannot account for the seemingly irrational behavior of 
	 consumers based on changes in taste – consumer theory lacks exibility 
	 and accuracy to explain changes in consumer behavior. Adopting a 
	 behavioral psychology perspective, this paper argues that there is a 
	 rational pattern in the change of consumers' tastes. I argue that 
	 behavioral psychology offers us a unique perspective to solve some of 
	 the paradoxes of consumer behavior. This paper incorporates exibility 
	 into CES utility function to more adequately account for, and 
	 differentiate between, habit formation routines. A model is developed in 
	 which habit formation and consumption of new goods are interrelated.
Classification-JEL: D11, D12, D91, O31
Keywords: Consumer behaviour, Consumer choice, Technological change, Innovations
Series: UNU-MERIT Working Papers
Creation-Date: 2009
Number: 005
File-URL: http://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/wppdf/2009/wp2009-005.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 275 Kb
Handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2009005