Download a free copy of the Adobe Acrobat Reader. This is one in a series of publications dealing with consumer choice. In the American economic system, consumers, producers, and governments all share in decision-making. Consumers play a key role in the functioning of the economic system. The majority of the nation's economic output consists of goods and services bought by individuals and families for their own use.
Wise consumers look for good values when they buy.
They are increasingly concerned with product safety and reliability and try to select products and services which provide high quality for the price. During colonial times, consumers provided most of their own goods and services directly. Very little was provided through the marketplace. As the economy developed, consumers began to purchase more and more items. Markets became more impersonal, and the individual consumer's purchases became a smaller and smaller influence on large retailers and manufacturers.