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1.3Decisionmakingbyindividualsandhouseholds
1.3Decisionmakingbyindividualsandhouseholds
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Householdfinancialplanningisallaboutachievingthegoalsofhousehold
members.Inordertodoso,themainmembersofthehousehold(thedecisionmakers)
havetomakeadecisionconcerningtheirfinancialmeansthroughoutthelifecycle.
Therefore,itisimportanttoanalysewhatthedriversofhumandecisionsareand
whatthedecisionmakingprocesslookslike.Furthermore,someformalapproach
(here,thisbeingtheutilitytheory)needstobeappliedinordertomakethemost
appropriatedecisionsforahousehold.
1.3.1Needsandpreferencesofhousehold’smembers
Everyhouseholdcomprisesoneormoremembers.Eachofthemhasaunique
setofcharacteristicsthatdeterminetheirhabitsanddecisionsconcerningthe
consumptionandsavings,aswellastheirpreferencestowardsachievingsome
lifetimegoals.Inthemodeldiscussedlaterinthisbook(see:Chapters3and4)itis
assumedthatthehouseholddeclaresitspreferencesasawhole.These“combined”
preferencesare,nevertheless,theresultofindividualpreferencesofeachofthe
householdmembers,thustheirformulationrequiresanapprovalofallthedecision
makersinthehousehold.
Thisisakindofsimplificationmadeforthesakeofthemodel’stractability,but
itshouldbepointedoutthatinrealitymosthumanpreferencesareofindividual
nature.Ingeneral,thesepreferencesarederivedfromthenecessityofanindividual
tomeettheirownneeds.Theneedsarethemaindriverofhumanactionsand
behaviours.
Sinceantiquity,thephilosopherstriedtoanswerthequestionofhumannature
andfactorsdrivinghumanbehaviour.Nowadays,researchersrecognizeneedsasthe
mostimportantstimulusofpeople’sactions.Theneedsare,however,notidentical:
theydifferintheirimportanceandinthestrengthoftheinfluencetheyexerton
decisions.Becauseoftheroleplayedbyneedsindecisionmaking,alotofresearch
hasbeendoneintheareaoftheirclassification.Thefirstknownattempttoclassify
needswasmadebyEpicurus(Tatarkiewicz&Krajewski,2011).Hesuggestedthat
needsmaybenaturalorunnatural,aswellasessentialorinessential.Thistwo-
-criteriondivisionleadtodistinguishingofthreetypesofneeds:
Naturalandessential(eatinganddrinking),
Naturalbutinessential(love),
Unnaturalandinessential(fame).
ThisclassificationhasbeenreformulatedbyTaylor(1947),whopostulatedthree
typesofhumanneeds:physical(biological),spiritual(psychological)andsocial(the
needofcoexistencewithothers).FurtherresearchinthisareawasdonebyLange,
MengerandWinkler(Światowy,2006).Nevertheless,themostwidelyused
classificationofhumanneedsanditshierarchy(pyramid)hasbeenproposedby
Maslow(1987).