consumers

Retail anthropologist Paco Underhill discusses why people enjoy shopping, how merchants attempt to control their customers, and how shoppers interact with their retail environment.

Discusses the role of the consumer in the modern economic system, probing such aspects as consumer education, consumer decisions, technology, and credit.

Discuss varying points of view about consumerism, including such topics as whether consumerism benefits society, harms children, and leads to overconsumption, and the impact that it has on American spending habits.

Over the past thirty years trade and an open global economy have created a more prosperous, democratic, and peaceful world. Free trade has given us competition which helps lower prices, provides a better selection of products, expands a global middle class, reduces poverty and child labor, and fuels a demand for U.S. products in the global marketplace.

Draws on real stories and the latest research to see why some ideas and products catch on and others don't. Describes the science behind word-of-mouth and social transmission, and presents six principles that cause things to become contagious from products, emails, and policies to rumors and YouTube videos. Offers businesses, politicians, and others specific techniques for crafting and spreading messages, advertisements, and information.

Explores the history of modern shopping culture and trends, discussing how retail stores have changed from the early 1800s to the present with online shopping and megastores.

Presents a critical survey of malls, analyzing everything from parking lots to restrooms, and looking at the methods businesses use to entice shoppers to buy.

Relates the complexities of economics to everyday life, illustrating basic aspects of economic theory by showing how they are used in the grocery store, when purchasing an automobile, or in deciding whether or not to run when pursued by a bully.