This contribution provides a game theoretical derivation of market demand as a function of the level and distribution of income in the considered economy: if (i) the price is low, everyone buys the good; if (ii ) the price is high, only the rich buy the good (a status good in a narrow sense). If...

Conspicuous consumption of luxuries plays a central role in the work of Thorstein B. Veblen. More recently, interpersonal effects have emerged as an important factor in consumption theory. However, the inadequate modelling of individuals interaction often leads to questionable results with...

Political reforms can be understood as the reconfiguration of formal institutions. The rational choice of formal institutions is the core topic of the New Institutional Economics research program. While bounded rationality is a core assumption of the New Institutional Economics and the reason...

The (socio-)psychological concepts of individual aspiration for conformity and consistency are integrated into the rational-choice framework. By using this integrative approach it is shown that after a shock the aspiration for conformity results in an equilibrium which deviates from the homo...

As from a political economy perspective, politicians often fail to implement structural reforms, we investigate if the resistance to reform is based on the differences in the risk preferences of voters, politicians, and bureaucrats. Based on the empirical results of a survey of the population in...