Ranking Value and Preference: A Model of Superstardom

Taiji Harashima

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Superstars earn extremely high incomes as compared with those of ordinary people, but why? In this paper, I present a model of superstardom that explains the mechanism of extremely high incomes based on the concepts of ranking value and ranking preference. I propose that goods and services possess not only practical values but also ranking values because people derive utility through various types of rankings. This emotional response (i.e., ranking preference) gives monopolistic powers to the producers of some types of goods or services. For some goods and services (e.g., professional sports), the ranking preference is very strong and therefore so is the level of monopolistic power. This strong monopolistic power is the origin of the extremely high incomes of superstars.

Keywords: Superstar; Income inequality: Ranking Value; Ranking preference; Monopoly (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D11 D31 D42 D63 J30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-10-20
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cul and nep-upt
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:74626

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