(Download) "Current State and Prospects of Consumer Policy: An Introductory Essay." by German Policy Studies # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Current State and Prospects of Consumer Policy: An Introductory Essay.
- Author : German Policy Studies
- Release Date : January 22, 2008
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 303 KB
Description
1 Introduction The current state of consumer policy is an ambivalent one. On the one hand, consumer policy has improved in terms of its status, prominence and political recognition in Germany as well as in the European Union compared to the situation in the 1980s and 1990s. Above all in the food and retail sectors, we are now seeing new preferences and a new type of consumer behaviour. On the other hand, the situation of consumers is becoming more and more difficult. While consumer policy is attempting to address certain selective problems, rapid changes in market conditions are leading to a whole range of new problems for consumers. In the following, I shall describe the achievements and deficits of consumer policy and present some ideas on the prospects of consumer policy. In general, current consumer policy can be described as being reactive rather than proactive. The political discussion and political decision-making process are mainly driven by actors from the supply side of the market, and they are guided by certain ideological perceptions concerning the role of market forces and state intervention. I have become increasingly convinced that, beyond the necessary strengthening of the institutional structures of consumer policy-making and the need of better and more effective policy instruments, it is above all the prevailing "belief system" (Sabatier 1993) that needs to be changed. And it is here that consumer policy research has a major role to play.
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