Preferences and constraints on an Islamic consumer: An analysis from Islamic perspective

Consumption is one of the central activity of an economy. It is perhaps the ultimate aim of all economic activity. The paper investigates Muslim consumer behaviour. The question that this study answers are what Muslim consumer behaviour is and how does it differ from Nep-Classical approach. This Study has adopted a realist ontological stance and interpretivist Epistemology. Units of data collection for the study were the Quranic verses and the texts of Hadith. The study found that an optimal Muslim consumer is confined in his consumption and spending to the boundaries of Sharia i.e., to stay away from Tabzir (pre-eminence) and Israf (extravagance) and follows the balanced approach, which is moderation and unlike modern day neo-classical Consumer theory, consumption is not the ultimate aim of human being. The paper suggests that the consumption behaviour of Muslim consumer must be guided by Islamic Principles. The paper also finds that the Muslim consumer should prioritize his/her expenditure within the domain of the Halal earning and spending. Thus, the findings of the paper show a compact Islamic consumer framework.

Discrete Choice Prox-Functions on the Simplex

We derive new prox-functions on the simplex from additive random utility models of discrete choice. They are convex conjugates of the corresponding surplus functions. In particular, we explicitly derive the convexity parameter of discrete choice prox-functions associated with generalized extreme value models, and specifically with generalized nested logit models. Incorporated into subgradient schemes, discrete choice prox-functions lead to a probabilistic interpretations of the iteration steps. As illustration, we discuss an economic application of discrete choice prox-functions in consumer theory. The dual averaging scheme from convex programming adjusts demand within a consumption cycle.

Brazilian Import Demand of Dairy Products with Emphasis in the Mercosul Context

Brazil is the largest milk producer in South America, with an increasing trend in the last 20 years which allowed the country to start exporting some output. However, it has not become self-reliant and continues to be a major importer in the region, the most relevant partner for Argentina and Uruguay in Mercosul. In this paper, the Brazilian import demand of dairy products is estimated by using a source differentiated demand system framework that is derived from consumer theory. This model takes into account the countries of origin (i.e., Argentina, Uruguay and other grouped competitors) and various dairy aggregated items that compete in the Brazilian market. The expenditure elasticities, and the own and cross-price elasticities are computed with the estimated parameters of the demand system. Interpretation of results follows as well as some conclusions, including the need of further studies and usefulness of this type of research.

Empirical Evidence of Changing Food Demand and Consumer Preferences in Russia

We investigate food preference changes in Russia that may have resulted from political, economic, and other changes. Our empirical framework utilizes advances in consumer theory and exploits provincial-level panel data on food consumption and supply shifters to identify price and income effects. Our findings indicate that consumers underwent a structural preference change that began in 2007 and continued into 2014. To illustrate the magnitude of this change, we contrast economic effects for select food commodities across regions. The new insights will be useful in designing timely and effective food and trade policies, as well as informing strategy decisions of agribusiness industry players.

Transferable utility and demand functions

While many theoretical works, particularly in family economics, rely on the transferable utility (TU) assumption, its exact implications in terms of individual preferences have never been fully worked out. In this paper, we provide a set of necessary and sufficient conditions for a group to satisfy the TU property. We express these conditions in terms of both individual indirect utilities and individual demand functions. Last, we describe the link between this question and a standard problem in consumer theory (initially raised by Gorman 1953), and explain why a similar characterization in terms of direct utilities cannot obtain.