Question

Shoppers at supermarkets often abandon their empty shopping carts at various locations in the parking lot, despite the risk of damage to vehicles or the additional labor cost of retrieving those carts.
How might an economist explain this behavior?

a. Once a shopper leaves the parking lot, the abandoned cart becomes someone else's problem.
b. People go to the supermarket when they have the energy to shop only, without considering the cost of returning their carts.
c. The perceived potential benefit of going to a cart return location is less than the time and energy cost to the shopper.
d. People are generally lazy and gravitate toward any decision with the lowest cost.
e. Because food prices are always subsidized by the government, shoppers are ignorant of additional costs.

Answer 1

The perceived potential benefit of going to a cart return location is less than the time and energy cost to the shopper.

Explanation:

Besides the perceived benefits that affect the outsourcing decision, these are more factors.

This analysis however analyses the perceived advantages as a major influence factor in order to provide strong empirical basis for further studies including a successful series of formative indicators for the modelling of structural equations.

The expected benefits have a positive impact on decision-making. The interaction was evaluated in several settings empirically.