Using a dynamic optimization model with status preference this paper shows that depending on the object of people's status preference an economy exhibits a completely opposite performance; permanent growth or persistent stagnation. If the object is a producible asset (viz. real capital), new...

After the 1990 Japanese stock market crash the Japanese economy began to stagnate whereas the U.S. economy began to expand, yet the yen tended to appreciate against the dollar. Such a phenomenon is difficult to explain in conventional models. This paper examines its mechanism using a two-country...