Answer to Question #303910 in Macroeconomics for DUCK

Question

3. How can the economic perspective help us understand the behavior of fast-food consumers? Explain several insights it provides about customer behavior.

 

Answer 1

Let's imagine a situation - there is an office worker Rob, who decided to go to a fast food restaurant for lunch.

When Rob comes to the fast food restaurant, he joins the queue, which is the shortest. So the client saves time while in a cafe or restaurant.

Sometimes the consumer joins the queue, but does not know how long it will take. For example, some may order one french fries, which takes about a minute. And some may order 10 large menus, which can take 10 minutes or more to prepare and place an order.

When Rob stands in line, he spends his time, which is a resource. Time is, of course, a limited resource. It must be used correctly and purposefully. The more time we spend in the queue, the more time we give up that we could use for other things. For example, an office worker could use time in a queue to complete work assignments. This is the law of opportunity value.

Assume that the cashier opens a new order counter for customer service. Then the consumer who will use the moment will join this order counter. Other consumers in other queues will look at the opportunity cost of joining the new queue.

Imperfect information sometimes shows us why some consumers may not join the queue when they find that the queues are long. They lack information on how long they should be in line. They need to know in a cafe or restaurant how long they have to be in line for their favorite hamburger or fries. This will allow them to plan their time accordingly.

In the end, when Rob comes to the checkout, where he orders, he decides on the marginal benefit and marginal cost of what he will receive from the food.