Positional goods... or positional people? Implications for taxation and happiness

Colin Ash () and Malcolm Dowling
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Colin Ash: Department of Economics, University of Reading
Malcolm Dowling: Singapore Management University and University of Hawaii at Manoa

No em-dp2008-62, Economics Discussion Papers from Department of Economics, University of Reading

Abstract: We report the results of surveys on positional concerns for income and leisure. The results confirm earlier evidence that a majority of people are positional regarding income. We also look at the distribution of both these positional concerns among our respondents, something which has not previously been investigated. Our findings point to the need for a more subtle approach than has previously been proposed for using taxation to correct distortions in the income-leisure choice.

Keywords: Positional concerns; Relative income; Leisure; Taxation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D0 D1 D63 H21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 17 pages
Date: 2008-11-14
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hap
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rdg:emxxdp:em-dp2008-62

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