Consumer economics is a branch of

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

. It is a broad field, principally concerned with microeconomic analysis behavior in units of

consumer A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. ...

families Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideal ...

, or individuals (in contrast to traditional economics, which primarily

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

or business units). It sometimes also encompasses family

financial planning In general usage, a financial plan is a comprehensive evaluation of an individual's current pay and future financial state by using current known variables to predict future income, asset values and withdrawal plans. This often includes a bu ...

and policy analysis. The term largely describes what was more commonly called "

home economics Home economics, also called domestic science or family and consumer sciences, is a subject concerning human development, personal and family finances, consumer issues, housing and interior design, nutrition and food preparation, as well as texti ...

" in the past.

History

The traditional economists had little interest in analyzing family units. When economic theory was insufficient to explain the phenomenon of women starting to enter the labor force ''en masse'', consumer economics both gained attention and received important contributions from economic theorists. Major theoretical cornerstones include

Gary Becker Gary Stanley Becker (; December 2, 1930 – May 3, 2014) was an American economist who received the 1992 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He was a professor of economics and sociology at the University of Chicago, and was a leader of ...

's Household Production Model, time allocation models and Stigler's information search theory. Consumer economics concludes the family-unit economists were strongly influenced by the most recent "consumer era"; which was the "Modern Consumer Movement" of the 1970s. The connection between Consumer Economics and consumer-related politics has been overt, although the strength of the connection varies between Universities and individuals. Many facets of consumer economics are measured regularly by the

Federal Reserve System The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a ...

and the Bureau of Economic Analysis and are available for the public. A number of indicators are published regularly from these and other academic sources, such as personal income, total household debt, and the

Consumer Leverage Ratio The consumer leverage ratio, a concept popularized by William Jarvis and Dr. Ian C MacMillan in a series of articles in the Harvard Business Review, is the ratio of total household debt, as reported by the Federal Reserve System, to disposable per ...

. The effect of consumer economics on the economy is another field of study in economics. It is called the " consumer economy", a term known from Hazlitt's

Economics in One Lesson ''Economics in One Lesson'' is an introduction to economics written by Henry Hazlitt and first published in 1946. It is based on Frédéric Bastiat's essay ' (English: "What is Seen and What is Not Seen"). The "One Lesson" is stated in Part On ...

References

*Bryant, K. & Zick, C. The Economic Organization of the Household (2006). Cambridge University Press.
Department of Housing and Consumer Economics - University of Georgia
{{Consumer behaviour Family economics

History

See also

References