Market Visions: Expenditure Surveys, Market Research, and Economic Planning in the New Deal.

The article discusses the use of economic surveys to combat economic inequality in the U.S. and how it influenced the New Deal policy. Labor activists and union leaders campaigned for higher wages, claiming they were necessary to meet American standards of living in a consumption-based economy. The national survey the Study of Consumer Purchases was intended to aid in implementing the New Deal but found more use by advertisers. Economists proposed projects to research consumer behavior but were hindered by budget limitations. Increasing wages to strengthen consuming power was promoted as a solution to the Great Depression.