Consumers hold the reins

Abstract

The Government's plan to slow inflation's growth and restore order to the economy is now in effect. Your paycheck and your company's profits bear testimony to the fact that Act I in a planned slowdown of economic growth is under way. Will the plan work? It should, if only the buying public will behave like economists. This is the great imponderable in the Administration's latest dip into the new economics. Personal consumption expenditures account for 65% of the gross national product. This means consumers provide the key leverage to economic growth. Regardless of the industry involved, products end up in consumer hands one way or the other. An understanding of consumer moods and spending habits will provide valuable insight into future sales trends of industries and products. For example, C&EN's econometric model for sales of the chemical and allied products industry, based upon retail trade sales of home furnishings, appliances, automobiles, apparel, and general merchandise, ...