{"product_id":"economic-analysis-of-consumer-tastes","title":"Economic Analysis of Consumer Tastes","description":"Most consumer goods now combine functional utility with aesthetic, hedonic, or ethical attributes. These taste characteristics engage the senses and sensibilities, guiding consumer choice and offering producers powerful levers to attract demand. Yet, tastes remain largely absent from mainstream economics.   This book addresses the need - and possibility - of developing an economics of tastes to explain the functioning of markets in modern economies. In openly asserting that tastes should be analysed before preferences, this book clearly challenges the dominant approach in economic theory, which prioritises preferences without paying attention to the processes through which they are formed. But producers deliberately incorporate taste-related attributes into the goods they offer—visual, olfactory, tactile, gustatory or auditory features—designed to attract consumers and playing a decisive role in competition between suppliers. As a result, this book outlines the framework for an Economic Analysis of Tastes which incorporates several key facets of modern markets: firstly, it acknowledges that consumer tastes have decisive economic effects on competition between suppliers. Second, it incorporates the increasingly sophisticated economic strategies deployed by suppliers to influence tastes, shape demand and attempt to capture it. Thirdly, it recognises that the growing consideration of consumer tastes by economic actors has led to the development of specific economic institutions, ranging from trend forecasting agencies and advertising firms to consumer associations. Adopting a deliberately interdisciplinary approach, the economic analysis of tastes improves our understanding of consumer’s values, attitudes, meta-preferences, judgment processes, and the resulting tastes and preferences that underpin demand.   This book will be of great interest to readers in economics and business, including consumption studies, cultural economics, and market design.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57680305946997,"sku":"9781041457138","price":171.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781041457138.jpg?v=1792423720","url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/products\/economic-analysis-of-consumer-tastes","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}