Of Economic Theory and The Archive of Life
We could, very confidently, state that zoology began deep in the caverns that sheltered prehistoric humans. While true, the intricacies of the scientific method that dominate modern academia were not yet completely ironed out per se; these early-zoologists felt a necessity to archive the fauna which they frequently engaged with. Taking a break from the essential and life sustaining activities of hunting and gathering, they created pigments and detailed prominent features like silhouettes, coat patterns, stance, and herd structure on the stone walls that lined their dwellings.
From those humble beginnings, humans continued to document and expand the catalogue of life. As the years turned to centuries, and centuries aged into millenia, branches of life sciences started to sprout and we began to develop a more complex understanding of our subjects of study. The human desire for knowledge led us to document, in more extensive fashion, the deeper intimacies from the biomechanical to the biochemical, but most importantly the behavioral. Stone walls replaced by pages, fingers replaced by graphite scribes; we can view these modern expressions of cave paintings in zoology books displaying detailed sketches and equally scrupulous descriptions of behavioral traits observed by late 18th and 19th century naturalist explorers.
As we press the unusually thick pages of these mammoth bindings between our fingers we are bathed in the same fever that burned through these explorers’ veins when they pushed through the underbrush at the foot of a remote mountain to lay their eyes on an undiscovered exotic fowl busily thustling around in the treetops. Methodical observation ensued with every posture, movement, and decision cemented in their field diaries as evidence of the infinite wonders of the animal world.
Exploration and discovery have yet to encounter their bounds, even today as we sail into the first quarter of the XXI century we are frequently bestowed with unique discoveries from the natural world. One of these contemporary findings is a fascinating critter who roams from the tropics to the poles, the coasts to the mountains, the jungles to the deserts, the rural to the megalopolis: Custumarius rationalis logicus. Just as the cavernous files depicted the most prominent features; binomial nomenclature convention follows suit with the scientific name offering us clues as to the creature's most prominent characteristics. Custumarius relates to its unique capability for gathering and collecting, rationalis logicus refers to a unique behavioral trait that is observed when making choices as there is always a rational framework that leads to logical decisions.
While Custumarius rationalis logicus lacks eloquent plumage, grandiose hornament, or even a graceful coat; we can still sketch their most prominent characteristic: rational and logical purchasing behaviors, alongside those of woolly mammoths, ground sloths, and sabar-tooths in the form of lines etched across our comforting economics models.
As reliably as we can state that a crow will build a nest to raise its young, Custumarius rationalis logicus will always:
Make choices that are rational and consistent with their preferences.
Have a limited budget and spend their money to get the most benefit within their financial constraints.
Preferences impact their consumption. They make judgement about products and services based on factors like price, quality, and convenience.
Seek to maximize their utility or satisfaction when buying goods.
Have all of the information they need to make an informed decision.
Obey transitivity which states that if choice A is preferred to B, and choice B preferred to C, then choice A is preferred to C.
Will want more options, even if they already have some.
Similarly, as a crow's decision to build its dwellings amongst the treetops is not influenced by the varmit’s preferences to burrow; Custumrius rationalis logicus is not influenced by family, friends, or extended social circles in their purchasing decisions. Furthermore, as confidently as we can state that a crow will consistently prefer to fly rather than walk to get to its destination; Custumarius rationalis logicus will invariably reject nourishment devoid, nonessential, detrimental junkfoods in preference for nourishing, essential, life sustaining foods that ensure health and wellbeing.
Never have we witnessed an occasion where Custumarius rationalis logicus purchases a canned, glucose endowed, carbonated beverage paired with a bag of processed, deep-fried corn-mash tinted with industrial dyes at a gas station without so much as blinking an eye but fervently avoid purchasing certain types of fresh seafood because of “health”. Such behaviors would not only deviate from our cavernous depictions, but most importantly, from our models. Such behaviors would land datapoints various degrees of variances afar from our behavioral predictive equations and formulas, enough to induce hives on an economist’s skin; fortunately, such behaviors would be flagged as “unusual” or “that's just a weird fellow” and disregarded as an anomaly; besides the principle of transitivity states that…
Some might romanticize about the purpose of cave paintings, assuming motives that vary from the spiritual and secular to inquisitiveness and expressionism. In an era where the concept of surplus did not exist, individuals engaging in recreational activities was as alien as the notion of the assembly line. Our cave dwelling zoologists intentionally archived natural life, in what we would today consider an overly reductive fashion, not with any intent of developing models on how animals should behave, but as a receptive account documenting life as is. Free from any frustration induced by a dichotomy between the hypothetical and the observable; the mind concerned itself with matters pertaining to the relationship, not the explanation; nature, after all, only cares if something works rather than why it works.
Somewhere along the way, we lost the fascination with observing and became lustfully ensnared with the theoretical. Our desire for explanations, and I’ll admit the tantalizing beauty of equations, has set us on a footpath leading away from achieving what we truly desire: earn the coveted consumer choice. The reality we observe is one where Custumarius rationalis logicus displays purchasing behaviors that are beautifully irrational and often seemingly unpredictable. A zoologist’s adaptation of economic theory would look somewhat different than what we would expect, but nonetheless much closer to the truth:
Sometimes make choices that are irrational and inconsistent with their preferences.
Sometimes spend money above their means to get the most benefit regardless of their financial constraints.
Sometimes preferences impact their consumption. Making judgement about products and services based on factors like social pressures, emotions, and similarity.
Sometimes seek to maximize other’s utility or satisfaction when buying goods.
Sometimes lack information they need to make an informed decision.
Sometimes choose C over A and C over B, sometimes A over C, but seldom B over C unless they are with their mother-in-law.
Sometimes will commit to one option because of learned behaviors, even if there are more options.
Undoubtedly a fascinating creature of nature, Custumarius rationalis logicus is a conundrum; not one designed to be cracked but one to observe with fascination.
Only when observed from a naturalist’s perch can we truly get close enough to reach out and touch Custumarius rationalis logicus.
Only then, can we place our products in the right place and at the right time.
