Back in July we came across the results of a study on consumer behavior as it related to “going green”. The research concluded that people are more motivated to make eco-friendly purchases based on perceptions about status – i.e. installing these solar panels are sure to make my neighbors envious – than they are by other factors, like cost-savings or more surprisingly perhaps, actually benefitting the environment.

Anthropologist and author Grant McCracken looks at the state of our economy and asks the question “What will the current downturn mean to consumers?” He then offers up various models to explain the possible lasting impacts this trip through the recession looking glass might have on our spending habits. While the prevailing theory seems to be that once the economy bounces back, we’ll all return to our previous patterns of purchasing, what if we don’t, what will things look like then?
As we’ve written about before, the brain’s response to the decision of whether or not to buy already functions much like [...]