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Value and Choices

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Expected Value and Consumer Choices

Argosy University

Management Decision Models

October 30, 2013

Mental accounting is a fallacy that people tend to fall prey to concerning the choices they make on what and how they spend money. This fallacy attempts to explain why people treat money differently depending on where the money comes from (Marrotta, 2008). Mental accounting explains that consumers have a tendency to spend earned income, such as their paychecks in one manner while they spend “windfall” money such as a lottery winning in another. It also explains that people develop psychological accounts in their minds to explain the costs and benefits that they associate with the choices that they make (Thaler, 2008). These accounts tend to remain present in a consumer's mind until they have obtained the good or service that they desire (Thaler, 2008).

If a consumer’s mental accounting is applied in the correct manner it can help a consumer keep track of their financial activities and control the use of their money. It also attempts to explain why consumers treat money differently depending on the source of the money. According to (Thaler, 2008), consumers who have a "windfall" of money such as a tax refund, tend to spend this money differently than they would spend their regular weekly paychecks. Because individuals actually work for their paychecks, they tend to use this money in more sensible ways such as paying their bills or feeding their families. However, when consumers come into money in "lump sums" they tend to spend the money in more frivolous ways such as purchasing expensive gifts or large ticketed items (Marotta, 2008). According to David Marotta, we as consumers tend to make big mistakes with our money when the way we obtain the money cause us to ignore careful

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