A time-hierarchical microeconomic model of activities

The microeconomic approach to explain the consumers' behavior regarding consumption of goods, choice of activities and the use of time is extended in this paper by including explicitly the temporal dimension on making choices. Here, some choices involve a long term commitment, like jobs or education, and other are made and modified in the short term, like leisure, shopping and transport choices of all activities. The temporal scale defines the time window to adjust activities (duration and location), and the magnitude of the resources (time and money) spent. We specify and analyze a stylized model with two time scales: The macro and micro levels, concluding that observation of preferences at a micro level, like transport mode choice, are strongly conditioned by the prevailing choices in the macro scale.