What is Risk Perception in Recession Context (Uncertainty)

An economic crisis is an uncertainty situation with negative economic evolutions like unemployment, inflation rate increasing, freezing or decreasing of the wages, purchasing power decrease, investments value reduction, fluctuations in consumer prices, restrictions in accessing loans, and fluctuations in currency exchange rate that represent economic shocks hitting most of the consumers to some extent. During economic turbulent times, consumers are highly exposed to such risks. The present chapter is intended to explain the consumers' behaviour alteration and spending patterns in recession conditions dealing with the panic mechanism that shapes the consumers' behaviour in this particular context, analyzing it from an economic and psychological perspective. The chapter is organized in two complementary parts in an attempt to present a comprehensive picture of consumers' behaviour change in uncertainty conditions. Readers can find answers to the “HOW” question and also to the “WHY” question placed behind consumers' behaviour alterations during recession.