Consumer Economics

Plastic surgery has become the answer for many Americans, and in American Plastic sociologist Laurie Essig explores how we arrived at this particular solution. Over the last decade there has been a 465 percent increase in cosmetic work, and we now spend over $12 billion annually on procedures like liposuction, face-lifts, tummy tucks, and boob jobs.

The global COVID-19 pandemic forced everybody to rethink how they operate and the role that digital plays in business and in our lives. While digital may have been top of mind for many businesses, the pandemic made it essential, not just to interact and sell products and services, but as a way...

Unser Handeln als Konsumenten, Produzenten und Investoren zerstört die natürliche und soziale Umwelt. Ohne es zu merken, töten wir Menschen. Der Ökonom Jakob Thomä legt den Finger in die Wunde: Wie ein Detektiv sammelt er Indizien, besichtigt Tatorte und ermittelt Verdächtige. Seine harte Beweisaufnahme führt ihn zu neuen Antworten auf die Frage, wie die Menschheit zukunftsfähig wird. "Der Kill-Score" erzählt mit einem radikalen Realismus die Geschichte von den tödlichen Folgen unseres Handelns.

In this ambitious and groundbreaking history of the dollar, financial journalist and economic scholar Brendan Greeley makes a new argument about the origins of our money—and the people and nations who have surrendered to it. America’s money is global money—nearly every nation in the world...

An original, engaging guide to creating a sustainable economy that will combat global warming while also improving our quality of life. Pick an environmental issue. Maybe air pollution, toxic waste, or deforestation. These all seem like solid choices, but none of these is actually an...

“A sprightly and clear-eyed testimonial to the value of globalization” (The Wall Street Journal) as seen through six surprising everyday goods—the taco salad, the Honda Odyssey, the banana, the iPhone, the college degree, and the blockbuster HBO series Game of Thrones. Trade allows us to...

Why do we get so embarrassed when a colleague wears the same shirt? Why do we eat the same thing for breakfast every day, but seek out novelty at lunch and dinner? How has streaming changed the way Netflix makes recommendations? Why do people think the music of their youth is the best? How can...

Innovate or die For thirty years, Gary Shapiro has observed the world's most innovative businesses from his front-row seat as leader of the Consumer Electronics Association. Now he reveals the ten secrets of "ninja innovators" like Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and many others. What does it...

Money Anxiety is a behavioral economics book exploring how financial anxiety impacts consumer behavior. The book explains why we make instinctive financial decisions, why we are more risk averse when stressed, and why we hate to lose more than we love to win.

Today's established companies must find new ways to reignite their entrepreneurial DNA and jumpstart revenues--or risk losing their way. By working with startup companies, Jim Stengel, renowned consultant to Fortune 500 companies and the former global marketing officer for Procter & Gamble, says...

For over fifteen years, New York Times bestselling author Harry S. Dent, Jr., has been uncannily accurate in predicting the financial future. In his three previous works, Dent predicted the financial recession of the early nineties, the economic expansion of the mid-nineties, and the financial...

A leading behavioral economist shows how businesses can improve consumer thinking and decision-making on screens. The typical American office worker now spends the majority of his or her waking hours staring at a screen. In the 21st century, every business is a digital business, which is why...

The extraordinary breakthrough management program--heralded by GE, Motorola, and AlliedSignal--that is sweeping corporate America with its unprecedented ability to achieve superior financial results. Six Sigma is the most powerful breakthrough management tool ever devised, promising increased...

New rules for the new game: the ideas that every business needs to win in the customer economy In The Agenda, Michael Hammer shows companies how to prosper in today’s world of slow growth, fierce competition, and enormously powerful customers. The winners in this extraordinarily difficult...

Over the last four decades, debt, bankruptcy, and home foreclosures have risen to epidemic levels, and the personal savings rate has sunk dangerously low. Why, in the richest nation on Earth, can't Americans hold on to their money? First published in 2008, Stuart Vyse's Going Broke described the epidemic of personal debt that existed in the years leading up to the Great Recession and anticipated the home mortgage crisis that started it. Ten years later, this fully updated new edition tackles the post-recession era of economic recovery.

Good works are no longer optional. For many businesses, success comes in unexpected ways. Toms grew into a $600-million company by giving away 35 million pair of shoes. Patagonia's profits have climbed year after year even as it funnels heavy investments into sustainability. And it's not just millennials rewarding companies with causes. In every age group, people commit to brands that show good citizenship.

What’s the secret to wowing your customers while maintaining a loyal and dedicated workforce? No one knows better than Enterprise, the nationnation’s #1 car rental company, Enterprise Rent-A-Car. Drawing upon the secrets time-tested strategies that have propelledhelped Enterprise grow from a...

Great marketing strategy looks like magic to the uninitiated. The mystical aura surrounding behavioral economics draws in the intellectually curious but has also confined the discipline to the fringes of modern marketing practices. Unpacking the drivers of human behavior is critical to connecting with consumers, but insights from psychology, neuroscience, and other fields are hidden away in arcane academic publications and books that aren't designed for practitioners.

The digital revolution poses a mortal threat to the major creative industries - music, publishing, television, and the movies. The ease with which digital files can be copied and distributed has unleashed a wave of piracy with disastrous effects on revenue. Cheap, easy self-publishing is eroding the position of these gatekeepers and guardians of culture. Does this revolution herald the collapse of culture, as some claim? In Digital Renaissance, Joel Waldfogel argues that digital technology is enabling a new golden age of popular culture, a veritable digital renaissance.

If the financial crisis has taught us anything, it is that Americans save too little, spend too much, and borrow excessively. What can we learn from East Asian and European countries that have fostered enduring cultures of thrift over the past two centuries? Beyond Our Means tells for the first time how other nations aggressively encouraged their citizens to save by means of special savings institutions and savings campaigns.