Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Consumer Economy: Countermeasures Analysis

The COVID-19 pandemic will change China’s macroeconomic environment in terms of total demand and total supply in the next one to two quarters. The article compares the economic environment at present and that of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) to define the potential influence of the new coronavirus (COVID-19). The potential impact on the macroeconomy includes the slower growth of consumption and investment, fluctuation of prices, and the contraction of export and import. The policy environment will also change in terms of monetary and fiscal policy, which will affect firms’ financing and tax paying. The impact on the consumer economy will be large. First, three modes of the influence on different types of retail industries include moderate, positive, and negative. The epidemic accelerates the revolution of business patterns in China, since the no-man delivery, sinking market, and indoors economy have emerged as the new powers in changing the business models. In general, although the impact of the epidemic on consumption seems comparatively the largest, the “compensatory consumption” can alleviate it to some extent.

“Names doing rounds”: On brands in the bazaar economy

This article draws on fieldwork form Delhi’s garment and electronics bazaars to articulate an alternative perspective on the role of brands in the global bazaar economy. Knockoffs and counterfeit brands have mostly been viewed as problematic manifestations of counterfeiting and piracy, or framed in terms of authenticity or marginal practices of imitation. In this article, we suggest that bazaar brands also function as central to a growing popular innovation system able to provide material goods as well as immaterial experiences to the world’s poorer consumers in ways that stay in close contacts with the mediated fluctuations of popular affects. Bazaar brands develop a unique relationship with consumers based on an ability to seize the moment rather than the creation of enduring loyalties. We suggest that bazaar brands can be understood as central to an emerging postcapitalist consumer economy that has been substantially empowered by the spread of digital technologies.

One British Thing: The Safety Razor

This essay examines the history of the safety razor in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Britain. In so doing, it explores male shaving practices and the male investment in physical appearance in the age of industrial capitalism. In highlighting the history of a single material artifact to showcase the relationship between masculinity, good grooming, personal success, and notions of self-improvement, this essay also underscores the growing influence of American products in British life, the intricacies of the consumer economy, and the increasing sophistication of advertising practices.

The Emerging Consumer Economy

Is China’s growth “unbalanced”? How much does it matter? China from 1980 until a few years ago has been mainly an investment-driven economy. Growth has been powered by capital spending on basic industries, export-oriented factories, infrastructure, and housing. In the “expenditure” accounting that economists use...

Waste and Efficiency in a Consumer Economy

Some complaints about consumerism rest on the perceived wastefulness of economic practices, for example, (1) the observation that individuals and firms discard large quantities of valuable goods, (2) the mass production of low-quality consumer goods, (3) research and product development serve the desires of the wealthy, (4) rapid product cycles and obsolescence encourage a constant stream of new purchases, and (5) consumption practices undervalue environmental and ecological goods. This chapter argues that a practice is “wasteful” if it is systemic, avoidable, and results in a lower-than-possible wellbeing. Each of the observed “wasteful” elements of the consumer economy can be explained by economic and marketing practices, though only a subset are avoidable and diminish consumer wellbeing, and are therefore truly excessive. This chapter concludes by examining some proposed solutions to economic wastefulness, as well as some alternative visions of economic progress that can more powerfully distinguish between justified and wasteful practices.

Crying on YouTube

In this article, we challenge dominant perceptions of social media as an archive of endlessly positive self-documentation by examining two subgenres of YouTube vlogging predicated on the expression of negative affect. Through analysis of the crying and anxiety vlogs of YouTubers ZoeSugg, Trisha Paytas and Nicole Klein, we recognize the productivity of negative affect, charting the translation of the mediated tears, sobs and struggles of these young female vloggers into affirmations of authenticity, (self-)therapy and strengthened ties of intimacy with followers. While these negative affect vlogs work outside of YouTube’s consumer economy, their popularity points to a booming economy of affective labour, where the exchange of tears for sympathetic ears is in consistently high demand.