Veblen effect, search for status goods, and negative utility of conspicuous leisure

Sergey Malakhov ()

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: When expected savings on purchases are greater than the wage rate, the optimal search results in the negative marginal utility of leisure. The search transforms the classical backward bending effect and the leisure becomes complementary to the search. Consumers compensate “bad” leisure by status goods of exceptional quality on markets with high price dispersion. Status consumption complements “bad” conspicuous leisure and produces the Veblen effect as well as the “gardening aboard the boat” effect.

Keywords: Veblen effect; search; status goods; negative utility; conspicuous leisure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D11 D83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mic, nep-pke and nep-upt
Date: 2012-08-20
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