Consumer Behavior

Gary Becker Discussions: Consumer Behavior

Is the economic theory of utility a useful way of understanding consumer behavior? Ronald Coase and Gary Becker, Nobel Economists at the University of Chicago, explain and discuss the theory of rational maximizing utility. They describe how consumers rank preferences and then attempt to choose the highest preference according to their resources, and they discuss whether firms and households operate with similar principles. They consider whether it is necessary to even have utility theory, and whether economists have been misled on this subject.