Book Description

This is the report on a special national conference dealing with the subject of Consumer Research for Consumer Policy. The conference was held July 28-29, 1977 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was hosted by the Center for Policy Alternatives at M.I.T. under funding support of the National Science Foundation. The purpose of the meetings was to begin building stronger connections between consumer research and consumer policy formulation in both the public and private sectors. The participants included nearly one hundred specialists from business, academia, consumer advocacy groups, and the private research community. This report includes: (1) an overview of the total proceedings, with recommendations for future such efforts; (2) a synthesis of issues raised in the workshops and open discussions of the conference; (3) the full texts of ten original papers prepared for this conference, accompanied by summaries of discussants remarks; and (4) an inventory of suggested research priorities in the consumer policy areas.