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Playlist: Consumers and the Economy

Compiled By: PRX Editors

Credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85853333@N00/2949007270/">Jeremy Brooks</a>

Image by: Jeremy Brooks

Curated Playlist

Ten pieces related to the role of the consumer in today's economy.

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The Future of Retail and Business

From Smart City Radio | 00:58:54

Michael Malone, author of "The Future Arrived Yesterday," talks about the virtual workplace and what corporations might look like in days to come; and Larry Weeks and Daniel Aizenman from the design firm Commarts discuss the future of retail and the fate of the neighborhood mall.

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Affordable Textbooks: An Upstate NY University Tinkers With a Rental Program

From WRVO | 00:02:55

Public interest groups say the cost of textbooks have risen higher than inflation in recent years. Though some colleges, like the State University of New York at Canton, are experimenting with a rental program to make procuring books more affordable, a student advocacy group says such programs don't go far enough.

TextBookRental

Retro Product Proves Recession Proof

From Todd Bookman | 00:03:46

For a lot of companies, innovation and IPOs have been sidetracked by cost cutting and layoffs. That’s part of what makes the survival of a New Hampshire company named ‘Sarah's Hat Boxes’ so unique: Their up-scale hat boxes seem more appropriate for an era defined by the Great Depression rather than the Great Recession.

Sarah's Hat Boxes

Virtual Goods Real People

From Andrew Davis | 00:06:25

Why are real people paying real money for products that only exist online? Virtual goods - selling avatars and all sorts of game-oriented trinkets and tokens - is a billion dollar market.

Selling Virtual Goods to Actual People

Burning Man and the Gift Economy

From National Radio Project | Part of the Making Contact series | 00:05:01

A "gift economy," the Burning Man festival allows no commerce. Larry Harvey, one of the festival's founders, explains how one of the most unusual economic structures in the world works.

burning man gifting

Sex, Evolution And Consumer Behaviour

From Barry Vogel | Part of the Radio Curious series | 00:29:00

How do marketers exploit our unconscious evolutionary desires for status and sexual attractiveness to sell us products? Evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller explains.

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Consumer Confidence Explainer

From Rachel Ward | Part of the Economics Training Project series | 00:04:07

What is "consumer confidence" and how is it calculated and put into an index?

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Discounts and Sales

From Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow- Phil Mariage | Part of the Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow series | 00:29:00

This piece compares attitudes across generations on issues surrounding discounts and sales, including pricing, haggling, and the history of big discount stores. With Atlantic writer Ellen Ruppel Shell, author of "Cheap - The High Cost of Disount Culture," and Nancy Levy, founder and director of the Senior Shopping Guide.

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Insurance Scams in Massachusetts

From Karen Brown | 00:03:31

When Massachussetts mandated that every state resident had to buy health insurance, some insurance companies took advantage of the new group of consumers by offering sub-standard health plans that don't meet the state's minimum requirements.

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