Status and the demand for visible goods: experimental evidence on conspicuous consumption

David Clingingsmith () and Roman Sheremeta
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David Clingingsmith: Case Western Reserve University

Experimental Economics, 2018, vol. 21, issue 4, No 8, 877-904

Abstract: Abstract Some economists argue that consumption of publicly visible goods is driven by social status. Making a causal inference about this claim is difficult with observational data. We conduct an experiment in which we vary both whether a purchase of a physical product is publicly visible or kept private and whether the income used for purchase is linked to social status or randomly assigned. Making consumption choices visible leads to a large increase in demand when income is linked to status, but not otherwise. We investigate the characteristics that mediate this effect and estimate its impact on welfare.

Keywords: Status; Conspicuous consumption; Experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D03 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Status and the Demand for Visible Goods: Experimental Evidence on Conspicuous Consumption (2017)
Working Paper: Status and the Demand for Visible Goods: Experimental Evidence on Conspicuous Consumption (2015)
Working Paper: Status and the Demand for Visible Goods: Experimental Evidence on Conspicuous Consumption (2015)
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DOI: 10.1007/s10683-017-9556-x

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