Fashionable food: a latent class analysis of social status in food purchases

Marco Palma (mapalma@tamu.edu), Meghan L. Ness and David Anderson

Applied Economics, 2017, vol. 49, issue 3, 238-250

Abstract: A framed field experiment combined with a latent class econometric approach was used to investigate how prestige-seeking behaviour influences food choices. We propose a theoretical framework to test conspicuous consumption of specialty food products. We test the hypothesis empirically by categorizing individuals into unobserved latent classes according to their general prestige-seeking behaviour. We find evidence of food consumption driven by prestige to the point of becoming a symbol of social status. The prestige-seeking behaviour seems to be motivated by invidious comparison or higher-class individuals seeking to differentiate themselves from lower-class individuals; and pecuniary emulation, or lower-class individuals buying prestigious goods in order to be perceived as members of a higher class. Findings from this study revealed that the effects of differentiating labelling attributes had a higher impact for individuals classified into classes with prestige-seeking behaviour to attain an elevated social status.

Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2016.1194965

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