Fifty Years of Consumer Issues inThe Journal of Consumer Affairs

Abstract

This article is the Guest Editor's introduction to the virtual issue to celebrate the 50th anniversary ofJournal of Consumer Affairs(JCA) published on the journal website in the summer of 2016. The virtual issue highlights the research published duringJCA's first 50 years and includes 20 articles that reported on consumer issues which are still relevant today. The evolution of research topics over the 50 years shows that consumer issues have evolved from handling and resolving complaints to information search, decision making, consumer fraud, debt profiles, a hierarchy of saving needs, welfare reform, diffusion of innovations, identity theft, financial literacy, and health care reform. The 2010 creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can be seen as a capstone for the consumer movement. What will the next 50 years bring? We can assume thatJCAwill continue to be a leader in providing research on consumers and their issues.