Overview

The conference aims to bring together researchers from different disciplines to organize and assess existing knowledge about older consumers.  The conference provides a forum in which to present and discuss the latest research and future research priorities related to consumers and aging.  It will be a small conference with approximately 50 people and will be held on May 2 – 4, 2008 in Ann Arbor.  It is being organized by Aimee Drolet of UCLA, and Carolyn Yoon and Norbert Schwarz of University of Michigan.

The conference will offer sessions on the psychology of aging and the economics of aging.  In terms of the psychology of aging, some of the  topics that will be covered include: cognitive aging and neuroscience, older consumers’ decision making, the needs of older consumers, designing messages for older consumers, designing products for older consumers, vulnerability to consumer fraud, vulnerability to deceptive  advertising among older consumers, seniors in advertising, customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.  In terms of the economics of aging, some of the topics that will be covered include: the economics of health and retirement, aging and the economics of family, intergenerational transmission of possessions and disposition of possessions, age differences in the use/effects of defaults in retirement plans, aging and public policy, and aging and spending.

The conference is hosted by University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, in conjunction with the Harold Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at UCLA Anderson School of Management, Michigan’s Institute for Social Research and the Marketing Science Institute.