We document a significant effect of visible inequality on household spending in the United States from 2010 to 2018, but we do not find a comparable effect before the Great Recession. Our proposed definition of visible inequality refers to differences across households in their expenditures on...

We document a significant effect of visible inequality on household spending in the United States from 2010 to 2018, but we do not find a comparable effect before the Great Recession. Our proposed definition of visible inequality refers to differences across households in their expenditures on...

This paper studies whether the interplay of social comparisons in housing and rising income inequality contributed to the household debt boom in the US between 1980 and 2007. We develop a tractable macroeconomic model with general social comparisons in housing to show that changes in the...

Whereas the environmental impact of buying luxury goods is debated, there is evidence that purchasing such products-often referred to as conspicuous consumption-can be more sustainable than hoarding cheaper alternatives because luxury goods are more durable and are often passed down through...

The intersection of recent advancements in generative artificial intelligence and blockchain technology has propelled digital art into the spotlight. Digital art pricing recognizes that owners derive utility beyond the artwork's inherent value. We incorporate the consumption utility associated...

I study the nature of the third-degree price discrimination by exploiting the removal of gender-based price discount by movie complex firms in Japanese exhibition market. In contrast to the extant literature which typically assumes that the price-discriminated markets are perfectly segmented,...

The extant literature on status-signalling primarily adopts Veblen's theory of class to caste and racial identities. This study aims to adopt a more suitable theoretical lens that is more relevant not only for class identities, but also for other identities such as caste and race. By viewing...

We conducted a survey-experimental on a sample of Uruguayan youth to understand what goods are positional, the degree of positional concern, and possible explanations for them. The individual's degree of positional concern was assessed by asking participants to make a series of choices between...

This working paper was written by Yin-wong Cheung (University of California, Santa Cruz) and XingWang Qian (University of California, Santa Cruz).Motivated by the observed international reserve hoarding behavior in the post-1997 crisis period, we explore the Mrs Machlup’s wardrobe hypothesis...

The quest for social status is the driving force behind many human decisions, including the expenditure on conspicuous goods. Recent evidence shows that conspicuous consumption patterns vary across social groups. Further, rank-based status signalling models suggest that the income distribution...

The importance of using the Internet and the accompanying browsing of websites, especially social networking sites (SNS), has increased due to its many benefits, which benefit users, consumers, and stakeholders. The benefits of using the Internet include obtaining information from anywhere, at...

This paper analyses the relationship between relative income concerns and individual wellbeing in an economy of heterogeneous firm-worker pairs. Specifically, we study incentive contracting under moral hazard when workers compare their earnings with the economy's average wage. At the aggregate...

During World War II, artworks significantly outperformed all alternative investments in Occupied France. With the surge in demand for portable and easy-to-hide (discreet) assets such as artworks and collectible stamps, prices boomed. This suggests that discreet assets may be viewed as...

The quest for status is a powerful motivator, but does it affect inequality? This paper presents a novel lab experiment that was designed and conducted to identify the relationship between conspicuous consumption, access to credit, and inequality. We report four main findings: First, consumption...

The luxury goods market in China has seen a significant increase in consumer spending over the last decade. Researchers have identified economic transition and a growing middle-class to explain this evolving trend. A less discussed but important contextual determinant is growing income...