Consumer Economics

Consumer Economics
Author: Elizabeth B. Goldsmith
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 579
Release: 2016-06-10
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1317539702

From identity theft to product recalls, from what we once thought of as unshakeable institutions to increasing concerns about sustainability, consumer issues are an integral part of modern life. This fully updated third edition of Consumer Economics offers students an accessible and thorough guide to the concerns surrounding the modern consumer and brings to light the repercussions of making uninformed decisions in today’s economy. This definitive textbook introduces students to these potential issues and covers other key topics including consumer behavior, personal finance, legal rights and responsibilities, as well as marketing and advertising. Combining theory and practice, students are introduced to both the fundamentals of consumer economics and how to become better-informed consumers themselves. Highlights in this new edition include: New Critical Thinking Projects feature to encourage students to develop their critical thinking skills through analysing consumer issues. Expanded coverage of social media and the impact of social influence on consumers. Revised Consumer Alerts: practical advice and guidance for students to make smart consumer decisions. A new Companion Website with a range of presentation materials and exercises related to each chapter. Fully updated throughout, this textbook is suitable for students studying consumer sciences – what works, what doesn’t, and how consumers are changing.

Handbook of Consumer Finance Research

Handbook of Consumer Finance Research
Author: Jing Jian Xiao
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 379
Release: 2016-05-30
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 3319288873

This second edition of the authoritative resource summarizes the state of consumer finance research across disciplines for expert findings on—and strategies for enhancing—consumers’ economic health. New and revised chapters offer current research insights into familiar concepts (retirement saving, bankruptcy, marriage and finance) as well as the latest findings in emerging areas, including healthcare costs, online shopping, financial therapy, and the neuroscience behind buyer behavior. The expanded coverage also reviews economic challenges of diverse populations such as ethnic groups, youth, older adults, and entrepreneurs, reflecting the ubiquity of monetary issues and concerns. Underlying all chapters is the increasing importance of financial literacy training and other large-scale interventions in an era of economic transition. Among the topics covered: Consumer financial capability and well-being. Advancing financial literacy education using a framework for evaluation. Financial coaching: defining an emerging field. Consumer finance of low-income families. Financial parenting: promoting financial self-reliance of young consumers. Financial sustainability and personal finance education. Accessibly written for researchers and practitioners, this Second Edition of the Handbook of Consumer Finance Research will interest professionals involved in improving consumers’ fiscal competence. It also makes a worthwhile text for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses in economics, family and consumer studies, and related fields.

Consumption and Well-Being in the Material World

Consumption and Well-Being in the Material World
Author: Miriam Tatzel
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 199
Release: 2013-09-30
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9400773684

This volume addresses how we can find happiness and well-being in the material world. It builds on previous works that find that materialism is associated with lowered well-being (materialists are less happy) and that consumerism, in all its profusion, is harmful to environmental well-being. How can we use the money and possessions in our lives in the service of well-being? Apparently not by being materialistic. Can we benefit from the many wonders of the marketplace -- in technology, convenience and aesthetics -- without falling prey to the lures and dangers of excessive material preoccupation? Can we meet our material needs in ways that nourish growth and well-being? The authors of the chapters in this volume are on-going researchers into such questions. Herein you can learn about the hedonic benefits of thrift and of spending on experiences; how possessions can be beneficial; how different types of consumers spend money; cultural variations in conceptions of the "good life;" how we might reconcile environmental and consumer well-being; and how to measure the whole of human, economic, and environmental well-being. Taken all together, this collection finds grounds for compatibility between what's good for the consumer and what's good for the environment. This volume appeals to academics, professionals, students and others interested in materialism and consumer well-being.

Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research

Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research
Author: Alex C. Michalos
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 7347
Release: 2014-02-12
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9789400707528

The aim of this encyclopedia is to provide a comprehensive reference work on scientific and other scholarly research on the quality of life, including health-related quality of life research or also called patient-reported outcomes research. Since the 1960s two overlapping but fairly distinct research communities and traditions have developed concerning ideas about the quality of life, individually and collectively, one with a fairly narrow focus on health-related issues and one with a quite broad focus. In many ways, the central issues of these fields have roots extending to the observations and speculations of ancient philosophers, creating a continuous exploration by diverse explorers in diverse historic and cultural circumstances over several centuries of the qualities of human existence. What we have not had so far is a single, multidimensional reference work connecting the most salient and important contributions to the relevant fields. Entries are organized alphabetically and cover basic concepts, relatively well established facts, lawlike and causal relations, theories, methods, standardized tests, biographic entries on significant figures, organizational profiles, indicators and indexes of qualities of individuals and of communities of diverse sizes, including rural areas, towns, cities, counties, provinces, states, regions, countries and groups of countries.

Consumer Economic Wellbeing

Consumer Economic Wellbeing
Author: Jing Jian Xiao
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2015-06-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 149392821X

This timely text overviews theories, concepts, and contexts relating to the emerging field of behavioral economics. Research theories and data gathered across psychology, sociology, marketing, finance, and other relevant disciplines are synthesized to identify and elaborate on the defining aspects of consumer economic wellbeing. Against a background of consumer rights and responsibilities, the book discusses consumer phenomena of earning, spending, saving, and borrowing and their contributions to improving (and in some cases to worsening) economic wellness. In addition, the author presents effective ways consumers can be encouraged to navigate key economic environments such as the media, advertising, and the internet, and to change negative financial behaviors. Among the featured topics: Historical perspective on consumer economic wellbeing. Consumer financial capability and economic wellbeing. The role of government in promoting consumer economic wellbeing. Corporate social responsibility. Theories of online shopping and e-banking. Desirable and undesirable consumption behavior. Consumer Economic Wellbeing clarifies issues and provides insights for researchers in the fields of consumer psychology and economics, psychologists and mental health professionals, and policy analysts. It is also useful as a text for college courses in related subjects.

Wellbeing Economy

Wellbeing Economy
Author: Lorenzo Fioramonti
Publisher: Pan Macmillan South africa
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2017-08-04
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1770105182

Economic growth is a constant mantra of politicians, economists and the media. Few understand what it is, but they love and follow it blindly. The reality is that since the global financial crisis, growth has vanished in the more industrialised economies and in the so-called developing countries. Politicians may be panicking, but is this really a bad thing? Using real-life examples and innovative research, acclaimed political economist Lorenzo Fioramonti lays bare society’s perverse obsession with economic growth by showing its many flaws, paradoxes and inconsistencies. He argues that the pursuit of growth often results in more losses than gains and in damage, inequalities and conflicts. By breaking free from the growth mantra, we can build a better society that puts the wellbeing of all at its centre. A wellbeing economy would have tremendous impact on everything we do, boosting small businesses and empowering citizens as the collective leaders of tomorrow. Wellbeing Economy is a manifesto for radical change in South Africa and beyond.

Human Well-Being and Economic Goals

Human Well-Being and Economic Goals
Author: Frank Ackerman
Publisher: Island Press
Total Pages: 472
Release: 1997-11-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781559635608

What are the ends of economic activity? According to neoclassical theory, efficient interaction of the profit-maximizing "ideal producer" and the utility-maximizing "ideal consumer" will eventually lead to some sort of social optimum. But is that social optimum the same as human well-being? Human Well-Being and Economic Goals addresses that issue, considering such questions as: Does the maximization of individual welfare really lead to social welfare? How can we deal with questions of relative welfare and of equity? How do we define, or at least understand, individual and social welfare? And how can these things be measured, or even assessed? Human Well-Being and Economic Goals brings together more than 75 concise summaries of the most significant literature in the field that consider issues of present and future individual and social welfare, national development, consumption, and equity. Like its predecessors in the Frontier Issues in Economic Thought series, it takes a multidisciplinary approach to economic concerns, examining their sociological, philosophical, and psychological aspects and implications as well as their economic underpinnings. Human Well-Being and Economic Goals provides a powerful introduction to the current and historical writings that examine the concept of human well-being in ways that can help us to set goals for economic activity and judge its success. It is a valuable summary and overview for students, economists, and social scientists concerned with these issues.

Transformative Consumer Research for Personal and Collective Well-being

Transformative Consumer Research for Personal and Collective Well-being
Author: David Glen Mick
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 768
Release: 2012
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1848728522

Daily existence is more interconnected to consumer behaviours than ever before, encompassing many issues of well-being. This edited volume includes 33 chapters on a wide range of topics by expert international authors, including unhealthy eating, credit card mismanagement, alcohol, tobacco, and much more.

Wellbeing Economics

Wellbeing Economics
Author: Paul Dalziel
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 203
Release: 2018-09-11
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3319931946

Economists have long sought to maximise economic growth, believing this to be their best contribution to improving human welfare. That approach is not sustainable in the face of ongoing issues such as global climate change, environmental damage, rising inequality and enduring poverty. Alternatives must be found. This open access book addresses that challenge. It sets out a wellbeing economics framework that directly addresses fundamental issues affecting wellbeing outcomes. Drawing inspiration from the capabilities approach of Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen, the book demonstrates how persons can enhance prosperity through their own actions and through collaboration with others. The book examines national public policy, but its analysis also focuses on choices made by individuals, households, families, civil society, local government and the global community. It therefore offers important insights for anyone concerned with improving personal wellbeing and community prosperity.

The Cambridge Handbook of Consumer Psychology

The Cambridge Handbook of Consumer Psychology
Author: Cait Lamberton
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 873
Release: 2023-04-06
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1009243942

In the last two years, consumers have experienced massive changes in consumption – whether due to shifts in habits; the changing information landscape; challenges to their identity, or new economic experiences of scarcity or abundance. What can we expect from these experiences? How are the world's leading thinkers applying both foundational knowledge and novel insights as we seek to understand consumer psychology in a constantly changing landscape? And how can informed readers both contribute to and evaluate our knowledge? This handbook offers a critical overview of both fundamental topics in consumer psychology and those that are of prominence in the contemporary marketplace, beginning with an examination of individual psychology and broadening to topics related to wider cultural and marketplace systems. The Cambridge Handbook of Consumer Psychology, 2nd edition, will act as a valuable guide for teachers and graduate and undergraduate students in psychology, marketing, management, economics, sociology, and anthropology.