Decision Making for Consumers and Small Business: A Behavioral Approach

Abstract

Behavioral Economics may be in the process of changing the assumptions used in an increasing amount of economic analysis, in “nudging” individuals to respond to government policy, and in getting general periodicals to take the discipline seriously, but how precisely to take advantage of the concepts in everyday decision making remains unclear to many businesspeople and most consumers. This paper undertakes initial steps to fill that gap. After outlining major findings of the field, the paper attempts to indicate how one might apply behavioral economics to decision making in such activities as shopping, job hunting, and setting guidelines for decision making in business.

Keywords: behavioral economics, decision making, everyday activities