FCHE 3100

depression

A ___________ is characterized as a drastic and long-lasting decline in the economy, with high unemployment, falling prices, and decreasing business activity.

Harvey Wiley

A case in point is the fight for better food quality led by ________ ________ —because of his pioneering efforts, Wiley is often called the founder of the modern consumer movement.

capitalism

A market economy is also referred to as _________, an economic system characterized by open competition in a free market.

consumer in control movement

A movement based around consumers want more say about products and services.

John Kenneth Galbraith

A prolific writer, one of his most famous books was The Affluent Society, published in 1958. In this book he called for less emphasis on production and more emphasis on public service.

well being

Consumer's ________ _______ is made up of a variety of factors, including material, social, and spiritual dimensions.

Prospect theory

This theory argued that people's degree of pleasure (their 'utility' in social science-ese) is more dependent on the change in their condition than on the absolute level.

Expansion, recession, and recovery

Three stages of the business cycle are:

Entrepreneurs

Unique industry-changing leaders are called __________. They pursue new business opportunities relentlessly without becoming deterred by the limited resources they initially controlled

Scarcity

Unlimited wants combined with limited supplies create ________, a condition in which there is an insufficient amount or supply, a shortage.

Muckraker

Upton Sinclair became known as a ____________, a term for writers, politicians, journalists, and public speakers who search out and expose political or commercial corruption.

transaction

When an exchange is fulfilled it is called a _________.

environment

When we use the word ____________ in consumer economics, it refers to the space in which all its transactions or potential transactions occur.

consumer market conflict

While most consumer-market exchanges are satisfactory, meaning that both sides are satisfied, sometimes things go wrong, creating a _______ ______ ________

Upton Sinclair

Who wrote 'The Jungle'?

human development index

The United Nations Development Program's _______ _________ ________ puts a number on (quantifies) well-being by combining several measures of human well-being.

Consumer price index

The _________ ________ _________measures prices each month of a fixed list ("market basket") of 400 goods and services (durables and nondurables) bought by a typical consumer. includes shelter, transportation, tires, utilities, entertainment, health care, clothing, and services.

exchange process

The _________ ________ occurs when people (as individuals, family members, employees, members of religious groups, etc.) negotiate with a goal of reaching an agreement, such as an agreed-on price or date of delivery.

consumer movement

The __________ ______ refers to policies aimed at regulating products, services, methods and standards of manufacturing, selling, and advertising in the interest of the buyer.

the federal interest rate

The federal reserve board uses the Consumer confidence index (based on the consumer confidence survey) to do adjust what?

equilibrium price

The most basic economic theory is that of _________ ______, which is reached when supply and demand are equal

Consumer mediated environment (CME)

The new buzz phrase in consumer marketing research is ___________ _________ ________ , which refers to buying and selling over the Internet.

common law

The rights of buyers and competitors fall under the general category of _______ ______, which is based on custom and is the unwritten system of law that is the foundation of both the English and U.S. legal systems.

demographics

The term _____________ refers to data used to describe populations or subgroups

Level of living

The way consumers are actually living is their _______ _______ _______.

standard of living

The way consumers aspire to live is their __________ ______ _______.

innovation theory

Theory that states innovators or early adopters of new products and services are of interest to consumer economists and marketers.

John Maynard Keynes

, English economist _______ ________ _________ published The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (1936), a more complicated and technical book than Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations.

monopoly

A __________ exists when there is only one producer and there is no substitute, such as there being only one airline or cruise ship line.

Theory

A _________ is an organized system of ideas or beliefs that can be measured. They are essentially systems of principles or assumptions, and because of the measurement aspect, they are useful in guiding research and explaining behavior.

Command (centrally planned) economy

A __________ __________ is an economy wherein most decisions about what, how, and for whom to produce are made by those who control the government.

theory of reasoned action

A theory that states that behavioral intentions are based on a combination of the attitude toward a specific behavior, the social or normative beliefs about the appropriateness of the behavior, and the motivation to comply with the normative beliefs.

Adam Smith

According to _______ ______, founder of modern economics, consumers guide the marketplace, and the goods and services they produce and consume have more to do with the wealth of nations than silver and gold.

Law of supply

According to the _______ ____ ______, as the supply of a good or service goes up, the price comes down

cease and desist order

An administrative or judicial order forcing a business to cease "unfair or deceptive acts or practices."

utility

Another useful consideration in consumer economics is the concept of ________, which generally refers to the usefulness of a product, service, or idea.

business cycle

As a way to illustrate the usual expansions and contractions in the economy, there is a _________ ______ that is made up of three stages

conspicuous consumption

At the end of the nineteenth century, Thorstein Veblen offered his withering assessment of ____________ __________

neuroeconomics

Behavioral economics or behavioral finance or ____________, which is "pushing the frontiers of research by introducing psychologically realistic models of economic agents into economic theory."

Rachel Carson

In 1962, American biologist _________ ________, founder of the modern environmental movement, exposed other environmental pollution problems in her book Silent Spring.

market economy

In a ________ ________, exchanges are controlled by marketplace forces of demand and supply rather than by outside forces such as government control.

Law of demand

In the ______ ___ _______, as the price of a good or service rises, the quantity demanded of that good or service falls.

services

Intangible 'work' done to satisfy a need or to provide for others are called ___________.

economics, history, culture, personality, biology and environment, technology, and politics

Seven factors that influence consumer style

rational self interest

Smith promoted ________ ______ _______, meaning that people make choices that will give them the greatest amount of satisfaction at a particular time based on information they have at their disposal.

mental accounting

Thaler developed the theory of __________ _________ in which people frame or put into context their buying and selling: "People who obsess over saving $5 on groceries will happily blow $1,000 on a vacation because they account for it differently."

Price

_______ is the amount a person pays to buy or use a product.

Inflation

________ is a steady increase in prices.

Deflation

_________ indicates falling prices.

Capital

_________ refers to factories, stores, farms, and equipment.

Antitrust laws

__________ ________ prevent business monopolies and are aimed at establishing and maintaining competition so that consumers get fair prices as well as goods in adequate quantities.

Consumer sovereignty

__________ __________ refers to the premise that consumers decide which goods will survive and that producers cannot dictate consumer tastes.

E-commerce

___________ is a general term referring to exchange transactions that take place on the Internet, such as buying and selling goods, services, and information.

Socialism

___________ is an economic system in which the government (also referred to as the state) centrally plans, owns, and controls most of the capital and makes decisions about prices and quantities.

Pollution

___________ refers to any undesirable change in biological, chemical, or physical characteristics of air, land, or water that harms activities, health, or survival of living organisms.

communism

____________ is a social or economic system in which nearly all capital is collectively owned, and examples (as of the writing of this book) are North Korea and Cuba.

Technology

____________ is the application of scientific knowledge to useful purposes.

customization

____________, specifically designed products such as shirts with logos or custom-made drapes and coordinating pillows in another fabric, is a result.

Lifestyle

_____________ is how one lives and includes patterns of time use and living space; it also involves what one thinks is important and how one spends money.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

a Democrat who became president in 1933, rose to the challenge that the Depression presented. As evidence of his popularity and effectiveness, he is the only president to be reelected three times; his years in office were from 1933 to 1945.

innovators

are the earliest buyers of new brands, services, products, and store or other market offerings, and they like new ideas and technologies as well.

Regional subcultures

exist in the United States due to differences in the natural environment and resources, characteristics of immigrant groups, and other social forces, including history and traditions.

Injurious consumption

happens when individuals or families make consumption decisions that will have negative consequences, affecting their quality of life in the long run.

Consumers

individuals or groups such as families who obtain, use, maintain, and dispose of products and services to increase life satisfaction and fulfill needs.

Public policy

is a plan or decision by government to act in a certain way or go in a particular direction, such as to keep products safe, open up competition, eliminate poverty, allocate more money to medical research or the space program, or clean up the environment.

Media

is a term for a means of mass communication, such as newspapers, magazines, television, or the Internet, that revolutionizes human life in developed and developing countries.

consumer confidence

is measured and nationally reported by two organizations: Conference Board (a New York-based organization), and Survey Research Center (at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor)

Risk

is the possibility or perception of harm, suffering, danger, or loss

Demography

is the study of human populations, including characteristics such as size, growth, density, distribution, movement, and other vital statistics.

Economics

is the study of or science of production, distribution, and consumption

diminishing marginal utility

means that in a given time period, a consumer will receive less satisfaction from each successive unit (such as a food item) consumed; for example, a second piece of chocolate cake is less satisfying than the first.

conspicuous consumption

occurs when someone pays an extremely high price for a product for its prestige value, leading to a much higher demand than a simple price-demand relation would indicate.

Consumer style

patterns of behaving or ways of making financial decisions and acting on them.

Adam Smith

published An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations in 1776, laying the foundation of economics. He argued that the wealth of nations came from the goods and services produced and consumed.

Oppurtunity

refers to a favorable outlook, a chance for progress, advancement, and action.

Consumerism

refers to the belief that goods give meaning to individuals and their roles in society.

Caveat emptor

translated as "May the buyer beware," is an integral part of the study of consumer economics, and you will see sections of chapters devoted to problems in the marketplace.

Real gross domestic product (real GDP)

which is a measure of the value of all the goods and services newly produced in a country during some period of time, usually a year or a quarter, adjusted for inflation.