Americans’ purchases at the grocery store are shifting based on the economic downturn. The headline from NielsenHealth is that consumers are searching for quality and value when shopping. And, people are cooking more at home and purchasing staple goods to have in the pantry. Americans are also buying more wine and vitamins. Dried vegetables and [...]

In this $819 bailout, post-Lehman Bros., post-Madoff, era, Americans are looking for clear, jargon-free, transparent information. According to a survey from Siegel+Gale, the branding consultancy, the two new “marketing imperatives” are transparency and authenticity. While the financial market implosion is top-of-mind among consumers in this economic downturn, it’s not only financial statements that Americans criticize. [...]

“The performance of consumer-driven health care has fallen short of both the aspirations of its proponents and the fears of its critics,” according to a review of the state of consumer-directed health care published in Health Affairs. Jamie Robinson of UC-Berkeley and Paul Ginsburg of the Center for Studying Health System Change examine the first [...]