We conduct a classroom survey to investigate the willingness to sacrifice consumption in absolute terms in order to ascend above others in terms of consumption levels. In contrast to other studies using survey methodologies, participants are divided into a treatment and a control group. This...

This paper shows how a firm can use non-targeted advertising to exploit consumers' desire for social status. A monopolist sells multiple varieties of a good to consumers who each care about what others believe about his wealth. Advertising allows consumers both to buy different varieties and to...

The public finance literature demonstrates the equivalence between consumption and labor income (wage) taxes. We construct an environment in which individuals make real labor-leisure choices and spend their earned income on real goods. We use this experimental framework to test whether a labor...

The public finance literature demonstrates the equivalence between consumption and laborincome (wage) taxes. We introduce an experimental paradigm in which individuals make real labor-leisure choices and spend their earned income on real goods. We use this paradigm to test whether a labor-income...

The empirical performance of macroeconomic exchange rate models is more than disappointing. This dismal result is also reflected in the forecasting capabilities of professional analysts: all in all, analysts are not in a position to beat naïve random walk forecasts. The root for this deficient...

'Waste not want not' expresses our culture's aversion to waste. 'I could have gotten the same thing for less' is a sentiment that can diminish pleasure in a transaction. We study people's willingness to 'pay' to avoid this spoiler. In one scenario, participants imagined they were looking for a...

Angesichts der aktuellen Gasnotlage sind alle Verbraucher aufgefordert ihre Gasnachfrage zu reduzieren. Als wirksamster Anreiz zur Einsparung gelten hohe Preise. Doch viele Haushalte spüren das volle Ausmaß der Preisanstiege an den Gasmärkten aufgrund bestehender Verträge erst mit deutlicher...

Die Entscheidungsfindung wird für Verbraucher immer komplexer. Die Frage nach einer effizienten und effektiven Verbraucherpolitik stellt sich damit dringender denn je: Wie können Konsumenten gestärkt werden, ohne die Anbieter und die Angebotsvielfalt zu sehr einzuschränken? Das Menschenbild...