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Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T13:17:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fernando Daniel Garcia Fontaneti.pdf: 1193004 bytes, checksum: 1c703fe842b689f430da47dd82443658 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-06-03 / Many studies in behavioral analysis have been making use of concepts derived from the microeconomic theory of consumer demand to analyze and interpret the data obtained or simply to put the research problem forward. The present study intended to show how such concepts have been incorporated by behavior analysis in order to identify what types of approaches have been made between the two areas and what possibilities they have indicated for the development of one or both areas. Making use of key words commonly found in the consumer demand theory, a survey of articles which used concepts of the consumer demand theory was conducted in 4 journals: JEAB, JABA, Psychological Review and Behavioural Processes. 77 texts were selected for the reading of abstracts and a general characterization of the articles followed, aiming to identify the principal researchers, institutions, types of articles and, for the researches, their types (basic, applied or historic / methodological / conceptual). Among the 77 articles, a new selection was carried out for the complete reading of the articles, being 28 articles selected, which were then, read, described and classified into 5 categories, as follow: a) studies which measure the demand for reinforcers as a function of cost changes; b) studies which measure the demand for reinforcers using the concept of unit-price and/or verify how well the demand function proposed by Hursh, Raslear, Shurtfeff, Bauman e Simmons (1988) accounted for the data obtained; c) studies about the relative strength of reinforcers (relative preference) based upon their demand curves; d) experimental studies regarding changes in income; e) studies with panel data. The results of this study show the evident importance of the economic approach for the behavioral analysis, besides demonstrating, apart from restrictions, the validity of concepts of economic theory in so far as individual behavior, whether with humans or infra-humans / Muitos estudos em análise do comportamento têm utilizado conceitos derivados da teoria microeconômica da demanda do consumidor para a análise e interpretação dos dados obtidos ou, mesmo, para a colocação do problema de pesquisa. O presente trabalho pretendeu verificar como tais conceitos têm sido incorporados pela análise do comportamento, de modo a identificar que tipos de aproximações têm sido feitas entre as duas áreas e que possibilidades elas têm apontado para o avanço de uma ou ambas as áreas. Utilizando-se de palavras-chaves comumente presentes na teoria da demanda do consumidor, foi realizado levantamento de artigos que utilizaram conceitos da teoria da demanda do consumidor em 4 periódicos: JEAB, JABA, Psychological Review e Behavioural Processes. 77 textos foram selecionados para leitura de abstracts, e foi feita a caracterização geral dos estudos, buscando-se identificar principais pesquisadores, instituições, tipos de artigo e, para os relatos de pesquisa, seus tipos (básica, aplicada ou histórica / metodológica / conceitual). Dentre os 77 textos, procedeu-se a nova seleção para leitura completa dos artigos, tendo sido selecionados 28 artigos, que foram, então, lidos, descritos e classificados em 5 categorias, a saber: a) estudos que medem a demanda por em função de variações no custo; b) estudos que medem a demanda por reforçadores, utilizando-se do conceito de preço-unitário (unit price) e/ou verificam o poder explicativo da função geral da demanda nos moldes propostos por Hursh, Raslear, Shurtfeff, Bauman e Simmons (1988); c) estudos sobre força relativa de reforçadores (preferência relativa) a partir de suas curvas de demanda; d) estudos experimentais levando-se em conta variações na renda; e) estudos com painel. O resultado deste estudo aponta para a clara importância da abordagem econômica para a análise do comportamento, além de demonstrar, ainda que com restrições, a validade de conceitos da teoria econômica no âmbito do comportamento individual, seja com humanos ou infra-humanos

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The objective of this research is to investigate the existence of structural changes in unsecured lending time series data and analyse the impact thereof on trends in consumer demand for unsecured credit spanning the years from 2008 to 2015. This is achieved by identifying dates when structural changes occurred over this period. The identified structural break date is linked to an influential economic event or monetary policy change that took place in South Africa of which the impact on three unsecured credit categories are analysed. Unsecured credit growth in South Africa has been subjected to intensive scrutiny since the inception of the National Credit Act (Act No. 34 of 2005) by various regulatory bodies. In 2012 the National Credit Regulator (NCR) commissioned a research study into examining the impact that the National Credit Act (Act No. 34 of 2005) has had on the consumer credit market. The empirical part of this study involved the gathering of time series data on unsecured loans approved, unsecured credit granted per income category and unsecured credit granted from the National Credit Regulator (NCR) database and performing descriptive and econometric analysis. The Zivot-Andrews (1992) and augmented Dickey-Fuller tests determined the break dates which were linked to a significant economic event while the one sample t-test of means compared average loan values before and after the break date. Results of the study indicate that the break dates determined coincided with economic events and monetary policy changes in South Africa, such as the collapse of African Bank, the implementation of the National Credit Amendment Act, prime interest rate movements and the introduction of a debt counselling program by the government. These events, coupled with stricter lending criteria and no further loans being granted to customers already more than three months in arrears, restrained the uptake of unsecured loans to lower and middle income groups. The introduction of new affordability criteria and increasing interest rates in 2014 further negatively impacted demand for unsecured loans. However, higher income earners had the advantage of being able to apply for higher loan amounts. Findings could be used by monetary policymakers and financial institutions to constantly monitor credit trends, improve credit assessment techniques and review lending criteria. / Business Management / M. Com. (Financial Management)