Abstract
Modeling of economic consumer behavior is studied in classical economic theory, which assumes exclusively rational consumer behavior. On the other hand, behavioral economics explains the consumer’s “irrationality”. The paper aims to build a mathematical model that describes the modern consumers’ behavior, taking into account those random factors that are different from the rational consumer model. Based on the methods used for analyzing the research in this area, a comparatively flexible mathematical model of the consumer is developed. It is assumed that not only the goods and impressions acquired, but also their diversity in itself is of value to the consumer. In physics, entropy is a measure of diversity. Almost all physical probability distributions directly follow from the principle of maximum entropy. The authors tried to extend this principle to the economic field. The resulting mathematical model of the consumer takes into account both personal characteristics and the inevitable random deviations in their choice. As a result, general formulas for an arbitrary consumer utility function were obtained. The paper provides evidence that the amount of cash costs is subject to a gamma distribution if an arbitrary homogeneous function represents the utility function. The constructed model can be applied to describe real economic processes.
