Positional goods and social welfare: a note on George Pendleton Watkins’ neglected contribution

Luca Fiorito and Massimiliano Vatiero

The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 2018, vol. 25, issue 3, 460-472

Abstract: Watkins's analysis of adventitious utility contains many aspects that are connected to the contemporary debate on positional goods. First, Watkins adventitious utility emerges from a process of social exclusion and can create negative externalities, in the sense that positive consumption of one individual implies negative consumption by another individual. Not only it creates negative externalities on other individuals, but it can initiate a race-to-the-bottom, where individuals waste an increasing amount of money on goods which do not possess any real utility.

Date: 2018
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Working Paper: Positional Goods and Social Welfare:A Note on George Pendleton Watkins’ Neglected Contribution (2017)
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DOI: 10.1080/09672567.2018.1449875

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