从消费异化到消费自觉

以消费主导的经济发展方式是实现我国经济增长可持续发展的必由之路。本文认为消费主导的经济增长模式通过消费者主权能够实现，但在我国经济发展过程中，消费异化趋势影响了消费者主权的实现，大数据时代的到来，使消费主导的经济发展方式成为可能，因此，本文主要研究消费异化的表现及原因，以及扭转消费异化、加强消费者主权实现消费主导的途径。     

从我国消费升温看扩大消费需求

拉动经济快速增长需要扩大消费需求，今年的消费升温为社会经济发展注入了活力。然而，正确认识目前的消费需求态势，认真分析扩大消费需求中的各种利弊因素，因势利导进行政策调整，使消费需求能进一步促进经济增长，仍需我们认真研究和探讨。     

《消费经济》的发展需要加强消费经济学科建设

今天是一个大喜的日子，大家来到这里，一起庆贺《消费经济》杂志创刊20周年。在这里，我要感谢《消费经济》杂志的主编尹世杰教授，感谢他多年来不懈的工作和创造性的研究成果，使得《消费经济》在经济期刊中取得如此高的学术地位。我要感谢各位专家学者，感谢大家对《消费经济》的关怀与厚爱。同时，我也代表《消费经济》的主管单位湖南商学院，感谢湖南省新闻出版局、湖南师范大学和湘潭大学对于《消费经济》的关心和支持。正是大家的共同努力，才使《消费经济》取得了今天这样引人注目的成就。     

消费：2006消费形势分析及预测2007

2006年我国经济增长呈现高位回落的态势，但消费需求却持续上涨，充分说明国家调整投资和消费关系、提升消费对经济增长作用的宏观政策取得显著效果。消费需求实际增长穗步提高、农村消费涨势迅猛、城市消费全面升级、消费者信心高涨是消费市场运行的主要特征。预计2006年消费品零售额名义增长15．7％，增幅高于上年0．8个百分点，实际增长12．6％，为1998年以来最快增长。展望2007年，消费需求仍将呈现扩张趋势，主要由于：政策环境将继续有效引导消费需求的扩大；城乡居民收入快速增长是消费扩大的根本；消费者对经济前景和消费预期看好，潜在消费不可估量；消费景气预警表明2007年消费景气指数仍将保持较高水平。初步预测，2007年将实现消费品零售总额85851．7亿元，增长12．5％，其中城市消费增长15．1％，农村消费增长11．5％。     

消费安全与扩大内需

内需不足是当前影响中国经济增长的一个重要因素。内需不足的产生有经济环境、体制、政策等多方面的原因，但消费市场的缺陷也是一个重要原因。欺骗性消费、强制性消费、伤害性消费等现象的存在，使居民产生了消费恐惧症或消费厌恶症，影响了居民的消费心理。因此，扩大内需的重要内容，就是要采取有力措施整顿消费市场，确保消费安全，增强居民的消费信心。     

消费需求与经济增长

消费需求对经济增长具有导向作用和拉动作用。但我国当前，消费需求不旺，其根本原因在于最终消费率偏低、投资率偏高。因此，进一步扩大消费需求的关键是提高最终消费率，提高居民收入，营造良好的消费环境和发展、完善消费信贷。而要促进消费需求与经济增长之间的良性循环，除了通过前述途径在扩大消费需求上下功夫外，还要在经济增长本身相关的方面下功夫。具体讲，必须优化产业结构、产品结构，培育消费热点，完善社会保障体系，提高人的素质、提高消费力。     

尹世杰消费需要思想及其现实意义

消费需要思想在尹世杰消费经济思想中占有极其重要的地位，因为他把消费需要作为经济研究的起点，把消费需要及其满足程度不断提高作为整个消费经济学体系的主线和消费领域的主要规律。尹世杰消费需要思想是不断发展的，1993年出版的《消费需要论》系统地、充分地展现了其消费需要思想，后随着市场经济的发展和经济环境的变化，他又提出了一些新的观点与看法，其消费需要思想日趋完善。     

把握消费倾向投其所好──现代消费倾向分析

消费倾向受多种因素影响，现代社会已呈现出一种新的消费倾向，随着经济生活的变化，作为企业家只靠机遇发家是不行的，要靠头脑。如何从消费结构、消费观念、消费多元化趋势把握消费倾向，了解消费变化，使企业在激烈的市场经济竞争中立于不败之地。     

更加重视扩大消费

国际经验和我国改革开放20多年来的实践表明，消费增长对经济增长的弹性，明显大于投资增长对经济增长的弹性。消费需求的增加不仅是保证经济持续增长的重要源泉，更是加强和改善宏观调控，转变经济增长方式，促进体制、机制转换的重要内容和关键环节。在构成GDP增长的三大需求中，消费需求不仅是真正的最终需求，而     

体验消费:走向全面小康社会的消费形态

从体验的视界来看，消费就是体验的过程，也是体验的结果。体验消费是消费者对物品和服务的“享用”关系，它的核心是注重生活质量，强调精神消费重于物质消费，消费质量重于消费数量。体验消费要求和谐的生态关系，追求质量型经济增长方式。体验消费形态的主流化能变革并优化人们的消费观念，有利于美化我们的生存环境，促进人的全面发展。     

消费信用与消费者破产研究

消费信用与消费者破产之间存在密切的联系。进入消费者破产程序的消费者必然有无法偿还的债务,而消费者只有接受了消费信用,才可能成为债务人,因此,消费信用是消费者破产的根本原因。消费信用越容易获得,消费者过度负债的可能性就越高,相应地,消费者对宽松的消费者破产制度的需求就越强烈。从消费市场的繁荣程度和消费者破产数量的关系来看,二者是成正比关系的。消费者破产制度作为消费信用的回收制度将影响消费信用的供给与需求,促进信用体系的建设。消费信用在我国进入快速发展时代,从控制社会危机的角度来看,消费者破产制度的建立已经迫在眉睫。     

Consumer Acumen: Augmenting Consumer Literacy

Appreciating that some consumer scholars are expressing frustration with the limitations of consumer literacy, this article offers the additional construct of consumer acumen (i.e., an astute, penetrating mind and intellect). After discussing consumer confidence in a global recession and emergent post‐recession consumer segments (reflecting the recession's psychological toll), consumer acumen, modeled after the emergent literature on business acumen, is defined, including six proposed dimensions. Consumer acumen augments consumer literacy with keen, penetrating consumer intelligence that informs quick perception and discernment of changing economic contexts. Consumer acumen is a foundational competency for the future, enabling people to better function in the post‐recession economy.     

Consumer Knowledge and Understanding of Consumer Credit

Much has recently been written about the desirability of restrictive usury laws. While low maximum rates may prevent excessive charges to some, they also limit the ability of high-risk persons to borrow. Therefore, if consumers have a sufficient understanding of the credit market to realize what they are paying for and how much they are paying when they borrow, a case can be made against low maximum finance rates. This article reports on a nationwide study designed to measure consumer knowledge and understanding of consumer credit. The results are that while consumers can generally rank lenders correctly in terms of cost, there are serious gaps in their knowledge of the credit market. Education and income are the key determinants of knowledge and understanding of consumer credit.     

Consumer Perceptions of the Consumer Credit Process

This research contrasts the perceptions of consumers with those of loan officers faced with similar credit application situations. Fundamental misperceptions of the credit granting process are encountered. Consumers clearly misperceive the credit standards of both banks and finance companies. Given large interest rate differentials between loan sources and the narrow shopping scope of most consumers for consumer credit, equitable allocation of credit dollars demands greater appreciation of the nature of the credit evaluation process by lender and borrower.     

The Effects of Consumer Education on Consumer Search

This paper reports the results of an empirical investigation of the relationship between selected consumer and marketplace characteristics—focusing on participation in consumer education activities—and consumers’ prepurchase information search behavior. A need exists for further study of the counteractive effects that consumer education is likely to have with respect to preferences for search and to the efficiency with which consumers conduct search.     

Consumer aliteracy

A large and growing segment of global society is comprised of capable but unwilling readers. Despite the proliferation of aliteracy and extant research on illiterate consumers, the topic of consumer aliteracy is unexplored. To address the issue, an eight‐item unidimensional measure of the construct is developed and validated. This consumer aliteracy scale captures reading attitudes and behaviors across a variety of written marketing materials. Results indicate that consumer aliteracy is predictive of how consumers approach written versus visual marketing information and the amount of time devoted to these information formats in a choice setting. Understanding the phenomenon of consumer aliteracy is essential for researchers studying consumer responses to a wide variety of written marketing materials. In addition, consideration of consumer aliteracy may help research that employs written marketing messages as stimuli to better detect other processing effects.     

Consumer spirituality

ABSTRACT

Consumers increasingly turn to the marketplace in search of spiritual well-being. In this introduction to the special issue, we unpack the concept of consumer spirituality. We define consumer spirituality as the interrelated practices and processes engaged in when consuming market offerings (products, services, places) that yield 'spiritual utility'. The market offerings are purposely designed to quench consumers’ thirst for meaningful encounters with one’s inner self or a higher external power. We identify three vehicles – materiality, embodiment, and technology – that consumers engage with to access consumer spirituality. By unpacking the concept of consumer spirituality along three themes - (1) shaping markets for consumer spirituality, (2) the means for accessing consumer spirituality, and (3) making sense of and researching consumer spirituality - we provide a future research agenda to advance scholarly explorations of consumer spirituality and to facilitate a systematic development of this nascent body of literature in marketing and consumer research.     

Consumer insurance

This report sets out the legal requirements which the European Consumer Law Group believes ought to be incorporated into consumer insurance contracts.The opening sections deal primarily with the law and practice governing pre-contractual negotiations. Subject areas covered include: (I) the need for accurate information about the cost of insurance and the extent of cover; (II) the use of consumer protection devices such as the cooling-off period and/or the offre préalable; (III) whether there should be a right to insurance per se; (IV) the unfairness of the law governing declarations of risk and non-disclosure.The next section of the paper analyses the terms of the insurance contract by commenting upon: (V) the wording form and language of contracts; (VI) the law governing warranties and Obliegenheiten; (VII) the legal effect of false replies to questionnaires and basis of the contract clauses; (VIII) whether the terms of insurance contracts should be subject to general consumer legislation.The penultimate section of the paper is concerned with (IX) the duration and (X) the termination of insurance contracts. The paper concludes by addressing itself to (XI) a number of miscellaneous matters and by (XII) stressing the need for effective redress procedures in the insurance field. The recommendations contained therein are then annexed in summary form.

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Verbraucher und Versicherung

Zusammenfassung Die European Consumer Law Group, eine Vereinigung von Rechtslehrern und Rechtspraktikern des Verbraucherrechts in Europa, macht in ihrem hier veröffentlichten Bericht eine Reihe von Vorschlägen über die grundlegenden Anforderungen, die aus der Sicht des Verbrauchers an die Gestaltung von Versicherungsverträgen zu richten sind. Dabei wird bewußt versucht, unter Absehen von den außerordentlichen regulatorischen Unterschieden innerhalb der Mitgliedstaaten der EG und der anderen europäischen Staaten ein auf Verbraucher zugeschnittenes Versicherungsvertragsmodell zu entwickeln. Zuerst geht es dabei um die Phase der Vertragsverhandlungen. Der Verbraucher benötigt exakte Informationen über die Kosten der Versicherung und den Deckungsumfang (I). Vorgesehen ist die Verankerung von verbraucherschützenden Regeln Über ein Widerrufsrecht und/oder die Verpflichtung des Versicherungsunternehmens zur Abgabe eines bindenden Angebots (Grundsatz der offre préalable) mit vorläufigem Deckungsschutz (II). Erörtert wird weiterhin die Frage eines Kontrahierungszwanges des Versicherungsunternehmens, wie sie im Schwedischen Verbraucherversicherungsgesetz vorgesehen ist (III). Die Angabepflichten des Versicherungsnehmers bezüglich des versicherten Risikos sind klar zu gestalten und hinsichtlich der Rechtsfolgen bei Verstoß vor unnötigen Härten freizuhalten (IV).Der nächste Teil des Papieres geht auf die Versicherungsbedingungen im einzelnen ein. Dazu gehören Sprache und Gestaltung des Vertrages (V), Regeln über Obliegenheiten und sogenannte warranties (Zusicherungen des Versicherungsnehmers bezüglich des versicherten Risikos) (VI), Rechtsfolgen bei Verstoß gegen Vertragsbestimmungen (VII) und Notwendigkeit der Anwendung allgemeiner verbraucherschützender Regeln, etwa über allgemeine Geschäftsbedingungen, auch auf Versicherungsverträge (VIII).Danach wendet sich das Papier der Dauer (IX) und der Beendigung (X) von Versicherungsverträgen zu. Zum Schluß werden eine Reihe sonstiger Fragen des Versicherungsvertrages behandelt (XI), um schließlich die Notwendigkeit effektiver Beschwerde- und Rechtsdurchsetzungsmechanismen (XII) hervorzuheben. Ein Annex faßt die konkreten rechtspolitischen Empfehlungen zusammen.

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The European Consumer Law Group (E.C.L.G) is a group of lawyers and law scholars in the EEC, concerned with legal aspects of consumer protection. Correspondence regarding this paper should be directed to: Mr. Alex Schuster, Lecturer in Law, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland.     

Consumer goods

Japanese company kicks off regional retail operations in HK
Japanese hosiery company, NAIGAI Co., Ltd, on September 9 announced the opening of its first independent retail outlet in Hong Kong. NAIGAI＇s new retail outlet in Hong Kong will offer an array of high-quality and trendy hosiery consisting of both the comnany＇s signature labels as well as a few licensed international brands.