Choosing or Inheriting the Joneses: The origins of reference groups

Xavier Ramos (), Martín Leites (), Camila Paleo () and Gonzalo Salas
Additional contact information
Xavier Ramos: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Martín Leites: Universidad de la República, IECON
Camila Paleo: Universidad de la República, IECON

No 623, Working Papers from ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality

Abstract: Do individuals choose their reference groups, i.e. their Joneses, or are they culturally transmitted across generations? We provide evidence that feeds the theoretical debate about the endogeneity or exogeneity of reference groups. Our findings for Uruguay suggest that reference groups are largely transmitted across generations. We also find individuals to have multiple reference groups and these to be context-specific. Our results are robust to several checks and to endogeneity issues.

Keywords: Intergenerational transmission; reference group; income comparisons (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 D62 D63 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 60 pages
Date: 2022-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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http://www.ecineq.org/milano/WP/ECINEQ2022-623.pdf First version, 2022 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Choosing or Inheriting the Joneses: The Origins of Reference Groups (2022)
Working Paper: Choosing or Inheriting the Joneses: The origins of reference groups (2022)
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