The Economics of Creative Goods: course description
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Neil De Marchi, Duke University -
Marina Bianchi, Università di Cassino
This is a course in which students are exposed to literatures that free them to think independently about how and why they consume things and engage in certain sorts of consumption-related activities. It is by now almost a universal fact that consumption drives economies (China may be the one big exception). But how much do we really know about why people consume (beyond basic needs)?
Economic theory supposes preferences given; it also assumes our choices are transitive (consistent); and that the added satisfaction we derive from consuming additional amounts of the same good/activity in a limited time period decreases steadily. Yet a growing body of experimental evidence suggests these assumptions are untrue or are appropriate to real behavior only in a very limited sense. Even the best applications of the economic theory of consumption to phenomena such as music enjoyment, fashion and addiction, fall short. Yet, far from being impoverished by this discovery, we are in fact enriched by knowing that emotions play a role as well as cognitive processes in our consumption choices; that rewards can be intrinsic and need not be monetary; that certain drug addictions may have nothing to do with rational choice but everything to do with the release of certain chemicals in the brain under the right triggers. And we are better off for knowing that there are wide ranges of activities and goods for which marginal utility does not decrease but increases. Moreover, given the increasing amounts of free time available in developed economies, it is good to discover the sorts of goods and activities which increase novelty, challenge and variety, and thus the pleasure derived from consumption, but which have nothing to do with socially undesirable ways of relieving boredom.
Consumption has long been under suspicion from critical social theorists for the reason that so much of it seems to be excessive – beyond real needs – and trivial, useless. It is a short step to supposing that we are tricked into over-consuming useless things by the manipulations of manufacturers and their advertisers. We also take issue with this perspective, and show students that precisely those properties of goods and activities that yield increasing marginal utility are the ones we associate with “quality” or what some call creative goods; that not everything creative or of quality is high-priced; and that skilled consumption (knowing why we choose) frees us from having to make the assumption that we as consumers are dupes.
The course is thus an encounter with news ways of thinking about consumption – both goods and activities. It ranges over literatures in economic, social theory, behavioral psychology and neuro-economics, but does not require prerequisites.
Economic theory supposes preferences given; it also assumes our choices are transitive (consistent); and that the added satisfaction we derive from consuming additional amounts of the same good/activity in a limited time period decreases steadily. Yet a growing body of experimental evidence suggests these assumptions are untrue or are appropriate to real behavior only in a very limited sense. Even the best applications of the economic theory of consumption to phenomena such as music enjoyment, fashion and addiction, fall short. Yet, far from being impoverished by this discovery, we are in fact enriched by knowing that emotions play a role as well as cognitive processes in our consumption choices; that rewards can be intrinsic and need not be monetary; that certain drug addictions may have nothing to do with rational choice but everything to do with the release of certain chemicals in the brain under the right triggers. And we are better off for knowing that there are wide ranges of activities and goods for which marginal utility does not decrease but increases. Moreover, given the increasing amounts of free time available in developed economies, it is good to discover the sorts of goods and activities which increase novelty, challenge and variety, and thus the pleasure derived from consumption, but which have nothing to do with socially undesirable ways of relieving boredom.
Consumption has long been under suspicion from critical social theorists for the reason that so much of it seems to be excessive – beyond real needs – and trivial, useless. It is a short step to supposing that we are tricked into over-consuming useless things by the manipulations of manufacturers and their advertisers. We also take issue with this perspective, and show students that precisely those properties of goods and activities that yield increasing marginal utility are the ones we associate with “quality” or what some call creative goods; that not everything creative or of quality is high-priced; and that skilled consumption (knowing why we choose) frees us from having to make the assumption that we as consumers are dupes.
The course is thus an encounter with news ways of thinking about consumption – both goods and activities. It ranges over literatures in economic, social theory, behavioral psychology and neuro-economics, but does not require prerequisites.
