Government policies, marketing campaigns of banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions, and consumers' protective actions all depend on assumptions about consumer financial behavior. Unfortunately, many consumers have no or little knowledge of budgeting, financial products, and financial planning. It is therefore important that organizations and market authorities know why consumers spend, borrow, insure, invest, and save for their retirement - or why they do not. Understanding Consumer Financial Behavior provides a systemic economic and behavioral approach to the way people...

This text should address the needs of students taking consumer behaviour courses at universities and colleges in Europe. It has been developed from a wholly European perspective and contains European data and examples throughout. For examples, the text includes European sociodemographic data, consumer sentiment data, data on consumer unions, data on values, the value of household production, data on media usage, financial behaviour and opinions on the environment. Written from a social scientific perspective with the emphasis very much on the consumer, this volume is aimed at marketeers,...