Consumer Economic Issues in America empowers consumers with the knowledge to recognize and pursue their moral and legal rights. The book takes a pro-consumer and normative view as it reveals the vested economic interests of businesses, governments, and consumers today. The authors emphasize higher-order thinking using basic economic concepts to analyze consumer issues. Readers gain a strong understanding of the American economic system and the concepts of consumer sovereignty and consumer interest. They become equipped with the evaluative criteria for judging products and services, tools for living, the ability to analyze consumer issues, and an understanding of factors that affect buying decisions. The text examines capitalism and how resources are allocated in the U.S. marketplace. Discussions focus on economic concepts critical to consumer success, consumers in a global economic marketplace, and the details of the government regulating economic and consumer interests. Readers examine the breadth of current consumer interest concerns using a framework for analyzing and resolving issues and developing rational decision-making skills.

This article provides an introduction to a law review symposium by the Journal of Law, Economics, and Policy on our book (co-authored with Michael E. Staten), Consumer Credit and the American Economy (Oxford 2014). The conference, held November 2014, collects several articles responding to and building on the research agenda laid out by our book. For those who have not read the book, this article is intended to summarize several of the main themes of the book, including discussion of economic models of consumer credit usage, trends in consumer credit usage over time, the use of high-cost credit, and behavioral economics.

This text employs an "issues approach" to consumer economics. Each chapter has one or two consumer issues that are highlighted through engaging, real world examples. These real world examples are highly applied aspects of everyday consumer situations.

From artificial intelligence to identity theft, from what we once thought of as unshakeable institutions to increasing concerns about privacy and sustainability, consumer issues are an integral part of daily life. This updated fourth 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 global economy. This definitive textbook introduces students to these potential issues and covers other key topics including consumer behavior, the history of the consumer movement, personal finance, legal rights and responsibilities, and 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 the following: New case studies and critical thinking projects to encourage students to develop their critical thinking skills through analyzing consumer issues. Expanded coverage of social media and the impact of social influence on consumers. Revised consumer alerts: practical advice and guidance to help students make smart consumer decisions. A companion website with PowerPoint slides for each chapter. Fully updated, this textbook is suitable for students studying consumer sciences—what works, what does not, and how consumers are changing.

Focusing on the service economy, and designed especially for non-economics majors, this practical text establishes a new and enduring blend of topics for courses in consumer economics and consumerism. Consumer Economics develops useful perspectives and rules of thumb to guide decision making. As it introduces the fundamentals of markets, consumer choice, financial assessment, risk avoidance, etc., it presses students to appreciate the world of markets and to clarify their personal priorities for decision making in such a world. Boxed sections throughout the text illustrate concepts and provide examples, and each chapter includes a summary, consumer workshop, questions for study, and suggested readings. CONTENTS I. Getting Started 1. Introduction -- 2. Consumers -- 3. The Marketplace 4. Negotiation -- 5. Household Accounts II. Priorities and Choices 6. Routine Shopping -- 7. Buying Durables -- 8. Borrowing 9. Risk and Uncertainty -- 10. Saving and Investing 11. Gains from International Trade III. Consumer Rights and Protections 12. A History of Consumer Protection 13. Today's Consumer Protection System 14. Economic Footings for Consumer Policy IV. Momentous Decisions 15. Housing -- 16. Cars -- 17. College -- 18. Kids 19. The Green Way -- 20. Health Care 21. Retirement -- 22. Death: Planning and Perspective V. Consumers and the National Economy 23. National Consumption Its Measurement and Determination 24. Consumption and National Prosperity 25. Consumers and Government Spending

Every day across America, consumers face issues with credit cards, mortgages, car loans, and student loans. When they are cheated or mistreated, all too often they hit a brick wall against the financial companies. People are fed up with being run over by big corporations, and few have the resources or expertise to fight back on their own. It is no wonder consumers feel powerless: they are outgunned every step of the way. Since 1970, the financial industry has doubled in size. It is the biggest source of campaign contributions to federal candidates and parties, spending about $1 billion annually on campaigns and another $500 million on lobbying. The four biggest banks each now has more than $1 trillion in assets. Financial products have become a mass of fine print that consumers can hardly even read, let alone understand. Growing problems in the increasingly one-sided finance markets blew up the economy in 2008. In the aftermath, Congress created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Sharing the stories of individual consumers, Watchdog shows how the Bureau quickly became a powerful force for good, suing big banks for cheating or deceiving consumers, putting limits on predatory lenders, simplifying mortgage paperwork, and stepping in to help solve problems raised by individual consumers. It tells a hopeful story of how our system can be reformed by putting government back on the side of the people, to strengthen our families, safeguard the marketplace, and establish a new baseline of fairness in our democratic society.

In this signal work of history, Bancroft Prize winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist Lizabeth Cohen shows how the pursuit of prosperity after World War II fueled our pervasive consumer mentality and transformed American life. Trumpeted as a means to promote the general welfare, mass consumption quickly outgrew its economic objectives and became synonymous with patriotism, social equality, and the American Dream. Material goods came to embody the promise of America, and the power of consumers to purchase everything from vacuum cleaners to convertibles gave rise to the power of citizens to purchase political influence and effect social change. Yet despite undeniable successes and unprecedented affluence, mass consumption also fostered economic inequality and the fracturing of society along gender, class, and racial lines. In charting the complex legacy of our “Consumers’ Republic” Lizabeth Cohen has written a bold, encompassing, and profoundly influential book.