Research on Household Behaviour

Through Thick and Thin: How Fair Trade Consumers Have Reacted to the Global Economic Recession

“…Though traditional consumers tend to purchase the same brands on a regular basis (Ehrenberg, 1972), when confronted with the downswing of the business cycle, consumers are likely to alter their regular purchasing behaviour. This is because consumption is directly related to income (Ferber, 1962) and consequently as variables of income fluctuate with the economy, consumers often adjust their spending habits as ''crisis hit consumers behave differently from those enjoying economic prosperity'' (Ang et al, 2000, p. 97). As explained by the Theory of Buyer Behaviour, as consumers' confidence in the economic outlook weakens, they tend to become more price conscious as they weigh price more heavily within their purchase decisions (Howard and Sheth, 1969).…”

Leave Home without it? The Effects of Credit Card Debt and Available Credit on Spending

“…The income effect from microeconomic theory predicts that as consumers' income and total wealth decrease, so should their discretionary spending (Ferber 1962). Because credit card balance payments reduce future income, this should reduce consumers' discretionary spending when they carry a credit card balance, holding everything else constant.…”

Market Segmentation: Group versus Individual Behavior

“…The very low goodness of fit in cross-sectional studies of grocery products is not surprising, particularly considering the results of crosssectional studies of consumer expenditures reported in economics journals. In a survey article in 1962, Ferber [3] indicated that in expenditure studies covering a wide range of products, including durables, the proportion of variance in individual household expenditures explained by socioeconomic variables is small, frequently less than .3. An extensive collection of cross-sectional expenditure studies is included in Consumption and Savings [6].…”