Cherry picking: Consumer choices in swarm dynamics, considering price and quality of goods

Abstract

This paper proposes a further development of the mathematical theory of swarms to behavioral dynamics of social and economic systems, with an application to the modeling of price series in a market. The complexity features of the system are properly described by modeling the asymmetric interactions between buyers and sellers, specifically considering the so-called cherry picking phenomenon, by which not only prices but also qualities are considered when buying a good. Finally, numerical simulations are performed to depict the predictive ability of the model and to show interesting emerging behaviors, as the coordination of buyers and their division in endogenous clusters.