FTC Conference Will Discuss Implications of Consumer Behavior Research for Consumer Protection Policy

The Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Economics will sponsor a conference on Friday, April 20, to explore research into how consumer behavior should influence consumer protection policy.

The “Behavioral Economics and Consumer Policy” event will bring together economists and other professionals from academia and government. Discussions will include the rapidly growing field of Behavioral Economics, which uses insights from psychological research to identify ways in which consumers may systematically fail to act in their own best interests due to behavioral traits such as self-control problems, failure to process information objectively, and inaccurately predicting the costs and benefits of prospective choices.

The one-day conference is free and open to the public; it will be held in the FTC’s Conference Center, 601 New Jersey Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. Details are available at the conference Web site: http://www.ftc.gov/be/consumerbehavior/index.html

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, or to get free information on any of 150 consumer topics, call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357), or use the complaint form at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.htm. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to thousands of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.