Using both qualitative and quantitative approaches, how consumers choose a financial institution for their checking accounts is investigated in this study. It was found that, although most consumers value convenience as one of the most important decision-making criteria, their definitions of convenience vary across consumers. How different consumers use different decisionmaking criteria and heuristics is reported, and the implications for financial service marketers are drawn from the findings.

Despite their growing economic power, children's acquisition and use of money rarely has been investigated in academic research, although it has been a frequent topic in the media. This study (1) describes sources and uses of money children (age 10–15) receive; and (2) investigates the association of children's uses of money with their age, gender, family structure, and sources of money. The sources of money are associated with children's uses of it, but age, gender, and family situation do not relate to the way they use money. Consumer education should focus on the sources of children's money in relation to the way they use it.

Disadvantaged consumers are often the victims of consumer fraud; low‐income Latinoa immigrants are especially likely to be victims due to their lack of English proficiency and inexperience in the local marketplace. A qualitative research study using purposeful sampling was conducted to identify areas of consumer fraud experienced by 45 Latino immigrants. Types of unscrupulous practices are identified, including sales of automobiles, prepaid telephone cards and counterfeit documents. Problems with fraud are discussed in terms of a model of disadvantaged consumers and implications for education are suggested to counteract the identified problems.

The debate over public versus private provision of community services has been extensive since Ronald Reagan became President. However, more empirical evidence, especially regarding citizen satisfaction, is needed before the broad policy question can be addressed effectively. Refuse collection is one service provided by the private sector in several communities. This study compares citizen satisfaction with public and private provision of residential refuse removal service in one metropolitan area of the United States.

The decisions of farm wives to work off the farm and the earnings they make in that off-farm employment should be considered simultaneously. Previous studies of wives' off-farm earnings have included only employed wives in their analyses of the factors affecting earnings, which results in biased estimates. This study tests, via Tobit analysis, a model which includes all farm wives and examines the effects of wives' human capital, farm and family constraints, and labor market characteristics on both their off-farm employment decisions and their earnings. Wives' off-farm earnings are found to be related to wives' education, labor market experience, presence of children, other family income, farm size, and debt/income ratio. Changes in these factors have a greater influence on the labor market participation decisions of farm wives than on the variation in their earnings, once employed.