Analytic Hierarchy Process for classes of economic behavior in the context of intertemporal choices

Abstract

Due to the major crises of the past decade, the need to introduce consumer profiling operations to protect individuals from committing superficial business transactions has been realized in 2014/65/EU Directive. The present paper investigates how consumer behavioral attitudes influence the decision-making process so that the choice results, from a normative point of view, non-rational in the context of intertemporal choice. In addition, the particular focus by European institutions on closing the gender gap in the economic and financial sector motivated this research to enrich the analysis with gender assessments. The study of the relationship between cognitive characteristics and consumer decision making are deepened with a multidisciplinary approach involving mathematics, behavioral finance, temperament theory and multi-criteria analysis. The results of an experimental investigation confirm that there is not a better temperament or a more adept gender in economic and financial choices.

Keywords

• analytic hierarchy process, behavioral anomalies, economic behavior, gender analysis, impatience, intertemporal choice, personalized strategies.