Rationality

Yesterday, I made a decision to buy a camera from Ebay. Well, I know you will probably think, so what? Right, so what? We make our buying and selling decision every single day anyway.

But being an economics undergraduate, we were often associated or rather, being taught to act rationally. As an economist, all assumptions are based on the rational of mankind, a decision is made based on the opportunity cost or the next best alternative forgone, an investment project is being undertaken based on the valuation of marginal benefit versus the marginal cost. In other words, there is always a mathematical function which assumes the closest numerical figure to represents the best interest of an evaluation, that ultimately lead to the decision of a particular incidence.

But more often than not, in reality, the buying and selling decision is not usually (if not most of the time) based on rationale. How many times have you bought something out of an impromptu decision after being attracted to a piece of advertorial, and eventually finds out that you didn't need it to begin with. Can you explain this mathematically? If yes, what figure would you put for being appealed by this advertisement on a general basis? Note that each consumer have totally different preferences and it would practically be impossible to collect data from every single consumer available. At the end of the day, we would have to agree that buying decision correlates with advertising effects, and the particular consumer is not rational on his/her buying decision. The point is, we do not make our decision at that point of time based on the marginal utility of owning the product, but was rather affected by our spontaneous decision out of the satisfaction of owning the product, where in many cases, the satisfaction and practical use of the product decreases exponentially after purchasing it, which justifies the explanation of being irrational. A sad but vividly true example.

I have to admit, the purchasing of my camera was somewhat similar to the irrationality I have mentioned above. I have been scouting and searching for a camera online since I have decided that I have a dire need to possess my own camera. But due to a tight and limited budget, I have to succumb to the disappointment of not buying one because I may put myself into a financial jeopardy if I were to buy a camera (a great example of me being rational alright). Anyway, after saving and scrimping for a bit, I think I can now afford one, or at least even if I can't, I'll just live on with breads and water for the rest of the month. Joking, don't worry I'll make sure I have enough money to survive and feed myself.

So after researching online for a couple of days, I narrowed down my searches into just a few models, and finally laid my eyes on this particular camera - Fujifilm finepix S2500HD. Yes, I need to get this. My initial plan was to wait until the end of this week, to visit shops personally and try out different cameras in order to decide if the model I chose initially was my perfect fit because for one, I do not want to regret buying something that I don't know if I will like, two, there's always something dubious about online purchase even though it looks a lot cheaper and more attractive. Anyway, I was almost certain that I would do that, because I personally think that was the conventional and rational (for me at least) way when you are deciding to buy a camera, and who knows, I might even get a better offer and close the deal on the spot. Nonetheless, in the end I did not.

I was too desperate for my camera to arrive before the end of next week, for certain reasons. I know that the longer I delay, the longer I have to wait and chances of me getting the camera before the end of week would diminish entirely, simply because I am not a very decisive consumer. If I was offered more choices and product, I would have to re-think about this entire camera buying issue, which would ultimately cause me to delay my buying decision. After contemplating for a bit, I finally convinced myself to hit the "Buy now!" button and proceeded with the payment. So the irrational triumphed the rational side in me, declaring victory, the decision was made based on desperation, and uncertainty.

Will I be certain that I will get my goods in time? No. Will I be certain that I will like the camera I bought? I don't know. Will I be positive that will this camera be as good as the reviews posted online? And most importantly, will the £170 I spent be justifiable? Nah. I have no answers for all these, but all I know is, as long as I have a relatively good camera to take my own pictures, I'll be a happy man at the end of the day.