Market behavior

In microeconomics, market behavior is understood to be the behavior of market participants in a market with regard to market data on market price and volume .

General

In general, market behavior is understood to mean the actions and reactions of market participants when they intervene in the market . These include in particular the Offer and requests for goods and services , establishing businesses through advertising , the business deal and the conclusion and implementation of contracts . A omission can constitute a market behavior when laws subject the market participants omission duties.

In economics , the economic subjects ( consumers , companies , the state , foreign countries ) behave rationally on a market, i.e. reasonably and purposefully in the sense of the rational principle . Suppliers and buyers appear as market participants . They exchange goods and / or services in a certain market and pursue a certain strategy in order to achieve their goals . Market behavior and competition are inextricably linked. Competition influences entrepreneurial behavior, the behavior of entrepreneurs in turn determines the intensity of competition .

species

Market participants can be differentiated according to how they behave with regard to the market price and the sales volume on the market. There are quantity fixers / quantity adjusters, price fixers / price adjusters and option fixers / option receivers.

• Volume adjusters : In a perfect market , suppliers or buyers cannot influence the price through their behaviordue to their small market share ; therefore they behave as volume adjusters. The individual providers ( Polypolist ) or consumers (P olypsonist ) sees the market price as a can not be influenced by him date and selects the winning maximum sales volume ( use maximum reference amount) depending on the price. At the given price, only the amount is offered (requested) that appears to be the maximum profit (maximum benefit). The price is a data parameter , the quantity is an action parameter .
• The quantity fixer is the market participant opposed to the quantity adjustor. Accordingly, the quantity is a data parameter for him, the price an action parameter.
• Price adjusters are those who cannot influence the quantity through their behavior, but can determine the sales price themselves as their action parameter.
  • The Cournot price matcher (named after Antoine-Augustin Cournot ) sets his price as a response ( reaction parameter ) to the given prices of the competitors and assumes that his price decision has no influence on the competitive prices.
  • The Chamberlin price adjuster (named after Edward Hastings Chamberlin ) fixes its price in relation to a reference price (guide price) set by a market leader or as the average price of all competitors.

For the price adjuster, the price is an action parameter, the quantity a data parameter.

• The price fixer is the counterparty of the price adjuster, so that for him the price is a data parameter and the quantity is an action parameter.
  • Polypolistic behavior is present with price fixing if the market participant is of the opinion that the competition is not reacting to his actions.
  • Monopolistic behavior : the market participant does not count on the reaction of the competition, but only on the reaction of the other side of the market.
  • Oligopolistic behavior is present when a participant has to reckon not only with reactions from the opposite side of the market, but also with actions from the competition.
• Option fixer : in a bilateral monopoly , the option fixer (monopoly) fixes both the price and the quantity and leaves the option recipient the choice of either accepting or withdrawing from the deal. For the option fixer, price and quantity are an action parameter.
• The option recipient is the market participant opposed to the option fixer, so that price and quantity are a data parameter for him.

Legal issues

Various laws aim to regulate a part of market behavior. According to the Federal Court of Justice (BGH), a standard regulates market behavior “in the interests of competitors, consumers or other market participants if it is related to competition in the form that it protects the competitive interests of those who may be considered as suppliers or buyers of goods or services ". In October 2015, the BGH defined the market behavior regulation as "a provision that serves to protect the rights, legal interests or other interests of market participants, is a market behavior regulation if the protected interest is affected by market participation (...)". He was referring to the UWG . Unfair competition within the meaning of Section 3a UWG occurs, among other things, if laws are violated that regulate market behavior in the interests of market participants. Market behavior is the behavior of a market participant that is related to competition. This includes actions that are to be viewed as direct participation in the competition. This means that the violation of a market behavior regulation is fundamentally also a violation of competition.

There are job-related ( doctors , dentists , pharmacies , lawyers , notaries , tax consultants , auditors ), product-related ( food law , price regulation ), sales-related (advertising law), business-related ( general terms and conditions law , distance selling law , telemedia law ) and other market behavior regulations ( youth protection , data protection ).

A large number of other laws regulate sub-areas of market behavior. These include, among other things, the Telecommunications Act or special laws regulating the market organization , such as the Insurance Supervision Act , the Banking Act or the Securities Trading Act .

Practical meaning

The consumer behaves in the consumer goods market (especially in the food retail sector ) mostly as a quantity adjustor because he has to accept the price and, with a given income , acquires the maximum amount that can be used. In the case of more expensive consumer goods, he can negotiate and therefore - to a lesser extent - help determine the price. Consumers as bank customers are recipients of options, as they cannot influence bank prices and the quantities of financial products due to their lack of bargaining power . Banks give them the choice of accepting bank prices and quantities or no banking transaction takes place. With increasing bargaining power, corporate customers can influence bank terms and conditions and become price adjusters.

Due to their position in banking systems, central banks can behave as price or quantity fixers within the framework of their open market policy . Either they set the interest rate (base rate ) and leave it to the commercial banks to determine how much securities are offered or bought, or they determine the amount of securities offered or in demand and adjust the interest rate so that precisely this amount is converted on the money market . The German Bundesbank and the ECB occur normally in its open market policy as Preisfixierer on, because the variable rate tender, the commercial banks can bid for securities by offered interest rates. The commercial banks behave accordingly as price or volume adjusters. So who are refinancing costs a data parameter, which is set by the Central Bank by the prime rate. Plus the credit margin , the refinancing costs result in the loan interest .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Günter Petermann, Market Position and Market Behavior of the Consumer , 1963, p. 51
2. ↑ Dieter Krusche, Market Behavior and Competition , 1961, p. 9
3. ↑ Willi Albers (Ed.), Handwortbuch der Wirtschaftswwissenschaft , Volume 5, 1980, p. 110
4. ^ Mathias Gerlach, Market Entry Competition in Homogeneous Oligopolies , 2010, p. 73
5. ^ Rainer Fischbach / Klaus Wollenberg, Volkswirtschaftslehre 1 , 2007, p. 280
6. ↑ Willi Albers (Ed.), Handwortbuch der Wirtschaftswwissenschaft , Volume 5, 1980, p. 110
7. ↑ BGH, judgment of July 3, 2003, Az .: I ZR 211/01 - Telephone information service
8. ↑ BGH, judgment of October 8, 2015, Az .: I ZR 225/13
9. ↑ Axel von Walter, breaking the law as unfair market behavior , 2007, p. 88
10. ↑ Rudolf Eder, Economic Theory of Technical Progress , 1967, p. 65
11. ↑ Hans-Jacob Krümmel , Bankzinsen , 1964, p. 233 f.
12. ↑ Hans-Jacob Krümmel, Bankzinsen , 1964, p. 234 f.
13. ↑ Volker Häfner, Gabler Volkswirtschafts-Lexikon , 1983, p. 409

Please note the information on legal issues!