From a theoretical point of view, addressing the adoption of novelty and change in consumption is a topic of major interest since it challenges the axiomatic foundations of modern microeconomics. Starting from the “continuity hypothesis” which considers the evolution of culture to be based on biological evolution, an evolutionary approach is presented which highlights the role of consumer learning. By means of a case study on the complex consumption history of sweeteners, it is shown that this approach complements the Lancasterian characteristics approach to the adoption of novelty in consumption in a fruitful way. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin/Heidelberg 2005Consumer theory, Evolution of preferences, Sweeteners, Satiation,
Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in From Carl Menger's Theory of Goods to an Evolutionary Approach to Consumer Behaviour AbstractA characteristic feature of economic development is the ever changing structure of consumption patterns. Reducing the explanation of this phenomenon to changing prices, finally caused by changes in the availability of goods (or characteristics), would neglect a major force driving this change, i.e. the variation of consumer wants and consumer knowledge. The present paper aims at sketching an evolutionary framework for the analysis of consumer behaviour that takes account of these features.For this purpose, Carl Menger's theory of goods is taken as a starting point. Whereas economists after the 'marginalistic revolution' were almost exclusively concerned with the determinants of exchange value and developing price theory, Menger puts as much emphasis on the user value as on the exchange value. Regarding the way of how user value changes a connection between Menger's 19th century theory of goods and 20th century learning theories is established. The problem of how to get from individual learning processes to aggregate consumption patterns is approached by recollecting the genetic underpinnings of human learning and its contingency on certain physical and social conditions. Taking into account that these conditions are dynamic, the presented approach allows interpreting collective learning processes as historical events and makes them fruitful for the analysis of economic change.
The literature on technological change and economic growth is implicitly biased towards the supply side. Research is mainly concerned with the question of how productive factors are accumulated. It matters less what companies produce or how they go about selling it. As Witt puts it: a sustained growth of per capita consumption is explained by a continued relaxation of the budget constraint, i.e. by rising real income, explicitly or implicitly assuming that the demand for at least some of the consumption items on which the preference ordering is defined has not yet been satiated by current consumption or is not satiable in general. (Witt, 1998a, p. 2) In economic consumer theory, novelty is broadly neglected. Even though there are time allocation models (e.g. Linder, 1970) explaining changing patterns of consumption in the context of increasing income, their focus is not on the adoption of new goods. The consumer has to maximise total utility across time. When income increases, substitution of time-intensive activities by less time-intensive activities occurs. The goods applied in these activities, however, are not made explicit -they may have already been on the market for a long time.In the context of economic growth, the role of novelty in consumption comes into sharper focus when, as Saviotti (1996) does, you switch the perspective from micro to macro-economics: taking market satiation seriously, rising productivity leaves more and more resources unemployed. One of two ways to avoid macro-economic satiation is a vertical extension of the production chain. Facing productivity gains in existing production segments, the number of production processes cannot be stable if resources are fully employed. In addition to this vertical extension of the production chain leading to quality change, the number of production processes can also be increased by the introduction of novelties enlarging the range of consumer goods and services. Taking these considerations as a starting point, the question of how new goods are to be adopted might be considered a worthy issue for economic research. The widespread neglect of these questions in the 5Preferences and novelty: a multidisciplinary perspective
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