Presence And Incentives: Marginal Thinking When Buying Organic Food

Running head: PREFERENCE AND INCENTIVES 1

Preference and Incentives

Aubrey Clifton

Regent University

PREFERENCE AND INCENTIVES 2 I have seen someone respond to incentives and use marginal thinking when buying food at the grocery store. The person decided to buy more organic foods because they were better for him, although the costs were definitely higher for each product. The benefits of this move are probably better food resulting in better health overall. The cost to buying organic groceries is higher prices for the food because of the way it was grown and produced. In Common Sense Economics, weighing costs and benefits is revealed as the key to making good decision: “The concept of marginalism reveals that it is the marginal costs marginal benefits that are relevant to sound decision making. If we want to get the most out of our resources, we must undertake only actions that provide marginal benefits that are equal to or greater than marginal costs.” (Gwartney, Stroup, Lee, & Ferrarini, 2010, p 13).

For example, we shouldn’t be enticed by fame or money as strongly, and we should feel compelled by generosity and goodness to choose to do things, not by our selfish desires. Although, it is true that many people who are not Christians do make generous and unselfish decisions already, without the influence of the Holy Spirit. Our text talks about this idea of how peoples’ decisions are influenced: “Some people think that incentives matter only when people are greedy and selfish. That’s not true. People act for a variety of reason, some selfish and some charitable. The choices of both the self-centered and the altruistic will be influenced by changes in personal costs and benefits.” (Gwartney, et al, 2010, p