Consumer expectations: a new paradigm

Richard Curtin ()
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Richard Curtin: University of Michigan

Business Economics, 2019, vol. 54, issue 4, No 2, 199-210

Abstract: Abstract Most scholars view the expectations held by consumers to be little more than uninformed guesses. Nonetheless, research has repeatedly found a close correspondence between aggregate trends in consumer expectations with the corresponding trends in national statistics. The theory of tailored expectations has reconciled the false paradox of micro-inaccuracy and macro-accuracy by shifting the focus from national data to the conditions people actually face. Processing, interpreting, and learning from economic information are largely accomplished by non-conscious cognitive activity. The inherent social nature of economic expectations generates cascades that can result in self-fulfilling expectations and consumers deserve equal billing with business and the government as having an independent and potent impact on the macro-economy. Lastly, the lament that non-conscious cognitive activity cannot be directly observed should not impede progress toward a more robust theory of economic expectations.

Keywords: Rational expectations; Tailored expectations; Consumers; Surveys (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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DOI: 10.1057/s11369-019-00148-1

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