On Grant McCracken’s blog, which “sits at the intersection of anthropology and economics,” this post argues that the American corporation is out of touch with much of the country’s population. The John-Boy Problem (Boomer managers out of touch) Let’s say we are a luxury car company. We’re doing a year-end review of marketing. We’re looking [...]

From the blog economicus ridulous comes this post called Blue and Broke, about the economic necessity of bartering instead of paying for certain extras, and the emotional toll it has taken. My sister’s son is getting married this summer. The invitation is sitting atop my fridge. The family lives in Ontario. I want to attend, [...]

I was in my credit union to do some banking recently and I asked the guy helping me if he’d seen an uptick in new customers lately. “Definitely,” he said. “A lot of people are coming in from the big banks, because they said they read about doing it on the Web.” Two months ago [...]

This post on the concept of extended warranties from late last year on the blog Economists Do It With Models includes this quote from the book Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein: …the extended warranty is a product that simply should not exist. If Humans realized that [...]

Found recently on Barking Up the Wrong Tree: “Do the poor pay more for things than the average American?” Answer, according to a 2008 paper in the Journal of Consumer Research: Yes. Abstract: This research undertakes a carefully designed and detailed empirical study to gain insights into (1) the extent of price differentials between wealthy [...]

From the World Bank blog, a post about the Zero Rupee bank note, printed in India and distributed by an anti-corruption organization called 5th Pillar. Imagine that you are an old lady from a poor household in a town in the outskirts of Chennai city, India. All you have wanted desperately for the last year [...]

At first glance, this post from the blog Fired For Now might seem rather banal, as it simply asks its unemployed and other Great Recession-affected readers:What have you had to give up? In reading through the answers, though, you may be hit with the reality of just what a profound effect this economic dislocation has [...]

“…my one suggestion would be to apply if you think you will need it, not when you need it.” About 12% of the U.S. population now uses food stamps. But how easy is it to apply? Here’s a post from someone who tried to enroll in the program, from the blog On Food Stamps, which [...]

From The Big Picture financial blog: Last month, a record-high 38.2 million people were enrolled in the food stamp program, which in 2008 was renamed the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program. Below is a chart that shows participation in the program from 1969 to last year.

[caption id="attachment_5946" align="alignleft" width="101" caption="Imaginary job wardrobe"][/caption]Just cuz you’re out of work doesn’t mean you have to be out of style. That’s the concept behind The Great ReDression, subtitled “Life on the Recession Runway.”

The Great ReDression is written by the ReDressionista, who profiles herself this way:

My father grew up in the Great Depression. During the Seventies, my mother refused to let the economic crisis limit her designer intake. My mother passed down her thrifted Dior and shopping secrets to me: how to “fix” broken jewelry, how to upholster bar stools with mink coats, how to dress “one size fits all” and how like fine wine, clothes are better when marked “vintage.”

I learned the secrets of extreme shopping on an extreme budget.
After spending three years living in six cities and four countries, I know how to fill closet space with quality clothing on poverty wages. Quality clothing isn’t about brands. Like art, quality clothing is about craftsmanship; well-crafted goods can be found in the sale bin at Goodwill or on a sidewalk at the Vienna flea market.