Consumer spending accounts for over sixty-five percent of the Gross Domestic Product in the United States, greatly affecting the economy, as well as the retail sector. The consumer, rather than business or government, has become the dominant factor in shaping the course of the aggregate U.S. economy (Curtin, 1982). The purpose of this study is to examine whether the economy, as perceived by consumers, has any effect on the apparel purchase expenditures of consumers, and if so, how personal factors such as gender, age, income, educational attainment, race, and marital status contribute to their perceptions and decisions. A research model was created using consumers' current economic perceptions, future economic perceptions, and importance of fashion as predictors of apparel expenditures. Demographic variables were included to see if demographics had any significant influence on current and future perceptions, importance of fashion, and/or apparel expenditures. Data for this study was obtained by administering a paper and internet survey to 166 consumers in the stratified market of Roanoke, VA. One-way ANOVA analysis findings indicate that age had an influence on consumers' future economic expenditures. Age and education had an influence on consumers' importance of fashion, while marital status had an influence on apparel expenditures. Regression analysis indicated that consumers' perceptions of current and future economic conditions and importance of fashion were significant predictors of consumers' apparel expenditures. Recommendations include collecting real expenditure amounts, comparing perceived economic conditions data to real economic indicators, and comparing Consumer Expenditure Survey data with real economic indicators. / Master of Science

The 2011 Saskatchewan Election saw a landslide victory for The Saskatchewan Party. They also achieved this victory during a time in which the province was experiencing economic revitalization. Past studies have suggested that incumbents are rewarded for good economic times. As such, the 2011 Saskatchewan election provides for a good case study that aims to understand if perceptions of the economy influenced Saskatchewan residents vote choice at that time. Using data collected from the 2011 Saskatchewan Election Study, this thesis has found that retrospective sociotropic and egocentric perceptions of the economy did have a small direct role in influencing vote choice during the election. However, this thesis also found that once leadership opinions of Brad Wall were added to the statistical analysis these perceptions became insignificant. Interestingly, the same economic perceptions were found to make up a part of Wall’s leadership evaluation. With leadership evaluations being the largest determinant of vote choice, this thesis found that economic perceptions did play a role in the 2011 Saskatchewan Election, albeit in a roundabout way.

How do individuals form their perceptions of economic matters? In this thesis I present three chapters which aim to demonstrate that individuals are influenced by their immediate environment in shaping their perceptions of the national economy or their economic status. In Chapter 1, I use cohabitation between young adults and their parents as a proxy for the economic difficulties experienced by individuals aged between 18 to 34. Using survey data from 32 countries, I show that parents' daily exposure to their adult child's difficulties negatively influences their perception of the national economy as well as the performance of the government. Chapter 2 deals with perceptions of an individual's economic status. I show that rising housing prices lead to economic anxiety among renters because of a fear of gentrification in their locality, as well as economic barriers to become home owner. My results are drawn from two survey experiments, one conducted in the United States, the other in Montreal. Finally, in Chapter 3 I take a more traditional approach to investigate the link between the local economic context and perceptions of the national economy. For this last chapter, I propose to reconsider the local economic context by taking into account not only the unemployment rate at the place of residence but also the place where adult individuals spend a large part of their time, i.e. their work. My results show that while the level of local unemployment is indeed correlated with the perception of the national economy, taking into account the average unemployment rate at the destination weakens this correlation. On the other hand, a global measure that takes into account the residential area as well as where individual's use to go on a daily basis is better correlated with the perception of the national economy. / Comment les individus forment-ils leur perception des questions économiques ? Dans cette thèse, je présente trois chapitres qui visent à démontrer que les individus sont influencés par leur environnement immédiat dans la formation de leurs perceptions de l'économie nationale ou de leur statut économique. Dans le chapitre 1, j'utilise la cohabitation entre les jeunes adultes et leurs parents comme indicateur des difficultés économiques rencontrées par les individus âgés de 18 à 34 ans. À l'aide de données de sondages provenant de 32 pays, je montre que l'exposition quotidienne des parents aux difficultés de leur enfant adulte influence négativement leur perception de l'économie nationale ainsi que leur perception de la performance du gouvernement en place. Le chapitre 2 traite des perceptions de la situation économique d'un individu. Je montre que la hausse des prix de l'immobilier entraîne une anxiété économique chez les locataires en raison de la crainte d'un embourgeoisement dans leur localité, ainsi que des obstacles économiques à l'accession à la propriété. Mes résultats sont tirés de deux expériences par sondage, l'une menée aux États-Unis, l'autre à Montréal. Enfin, dans le chapitre 3, j'adopte une approche plus traditionnelle pour étudier le lien entre le contexte économique local et les perceptions de l'économie nationale. Pour ce dernier chapitre, je propose de reconsidérer le contexte économique local en prenant en compte non seulement le taux de chômage du lieu de résidence mais aussi celui du lieu où les individus adultes passent une grande partie de leur temps, c'est-à-dire leur travail. Mes résultats montrent que si le niveau de chômage local est effectivement corrélé avec la perception de l'économie nationale, la prise en compte du taux de chômage moyen à la destination affaiblit cette corrélation. En revanche, une mesure globale prenant en compte la zone résidentielle ainsi que le lieu de déplacement quotidien des individus est mieux corrélée avec la perception de l'économie nationale.