Demand dynamics with socially evolving preferences

In this work we, first, identify a few stylized facts concerning microconsumption acts. Second, building on them, we develop a simple model of 'boundedly rational' consumers who endogenously evolve their preferences via both innovation and social imitation. Third, we explore some statistical properties of the demand patterns generated by the model which, despite its simplicity, are surprisingly in line with the empirical evidence. These results, we suggest, bring encouraging support to microfoundations of demand theory based on cognitive and behavioral foundations more in tune with the psychological and sociological evidence, based on heterogeneous agents who are much less 'rational' and much more social than in standard theory, and who collectively discover 'along the way' what they like within a growing universe of available commodities