Proposes a new comprehensive theory about how expectations are formed and how they shape the macro economy.

Inflation is regarded by the many as a menace that damages business and can only make life worse for households. Keeping it low depends critically on ensuring that firms and workers expect it to be low. So expectations of inflation are a key influence on national economic welfare. This collection pulls together a galaxy of world experts (including Roy Batchelor, Richard Curtin and Staffan Linden) on inflation expectations to debate different aspects of the issues involved. The main focus of the volume is on likely inflation developments. A number of factors have led practitioners and academic observers of monetary policy to place increasing emphasis recently on inflation expectations. One is the spread of inflation targeting, invented in New Zealand over 15 years ago, but now encompassing many important economies including Brazil, Canada, Israel and Great Britain. Even more significantly, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and the United States Federal Bank are the leading members of another group of monetary institutions all considering or implementing moves in the same direction. A second is the large reduction in actual inflation that has been observed in most countries over the past decade or so. These considerations underscore the critical – and largely underrecognized - importance of inflation expectations. They emphasize the importance of the issues, and the great need for a volume that offers a clear, systematic treatment of them. This book, under the steely editorship of Peter Sinclair, should prove very important for policy makers and monetary economists alike.

Handbook of U.S. Consumer Economics presents a deep understanding on key, current topics and a primer on the landscape of contemporary research on the U.S. consumer. This volume reveals new insights into household decision-making on consumption and saving, borrowing and investing, portfolio allocation, demand of professional advice, and retirement choices. Nearly 70% of U.S. gross domestic product is devoted to consumption, making an understanding of the consumer a first order issue in macroeconomics. After all, understanding how households played an important role in the boom and bust cycle that led to the financial crisis and recent great recession is a key metric. Introduces household finance by examining consumption and borrowing choices Tackles macro-problems by observing new, original micro-data Looks into the future of consumer spending by using data, not questionnaires

Trend-Driven Innovation Beat accelerating customer expectations. Every business leader, entrepreneur, innovator, and marketer wants to know where customers are headed. The problem? The received wisdom on how to find out is wrong. In this startling new book, the team at TrendWatching share a powerful, counter-intuitive truth: to discover what people want next, stop looking at customers and start looking at businesses. That means learning how to draw powerful insights from the way leading brands and disruptive startups—from Apple to Uber, Chipotle to Patagonia—redefine customer expectations. Sharing the secrets that have led thousands of the world's most successful brands and agencies to rely on TrendWatching for over a decade, Trend-Driven Innovation is the book that will reconfigure your view of the business world forever. You'll learn: How to spot emerging trends using three crucial building blocks, and how to recognize the expectation gaps that herald opportunity. Why most professionals focus on precisely the wrong trends and innovations, and how to avoid this. How to turn trends and insights into innovations that customers will love. Amid the endless change that defines today's business environment, opportunity is everywhere. Highly practical, and featuring real-world examples from around the world, Trend-Driven Innovation is the actionable, battle-tested manual that will enable you harness those opportunities time after time. Setting you up to build an organization that matters, products customers love, and campaigns people can't stop talking about.

Now more than ever, marketers face a paradox. Consumers expect your brand to know who they are, what they want, and why and to deliver results at the exact moment they're needed. But the seemingly never-ending stream of advertisements and inbox clutter makes many resent everything marketers do. In this environment, traditional approaches just wont cut it. Marketing to these entitled consumers requires a new strategy: consumer-first marketing. And this book is the first to lay out how to do it. Based on focus groups and survey answers from real consumers, combined with the authors experience with hundreds of different brands, Marketing to the Entitled Consumer shows you exactly how to apply consumer-first marketing in your organization. Youll learn which data to collect -- from purchase histories to pollen counts -- and how to deploy it consistently across online, mobile, and real-world channels. Youll master the art of building meaningful consumer connections with the three Rs: reciprocal value, relevance, and respectful empathy. Youll even get instructions on how to win over your fellow marketers and the rest of your company. Marketing to the Entitled Consumer features practical case studies from dozens of marketing practitioners and thought leaderslearn how a clothing retailer, a self-storage company, and a European department store all personalized their marketing outreach strategies to suit their individual customers and how those changes maximized company growth. Read the book that the legendary marketing thinker Don Peppers called a warning shot across the bow of traditional marketing. Then get to work. Your entitled consumers are ready for a new approach ... are you?