Consumption patterns can be indicative of how a consumer wants to be perceived by others. In this paper, I study markets where consumers are heterogeneous with respect to both their concerns for the quality of goods and the image associated with buying them. Consumers with a taste for quality...

In this paper, I study markets where consumers are heterogeneous with respect to both their concerns for the quality of goods and the image associated with them. Consumers with a taste for quality lend a positive image to the product of their choice and thereby increase the product's value to...

I model a benevolent planner who motivates a time-inconsistent agent by only committing to provide feedback. The optimal feedback mechanism always takes the simple form of recommending an action. I also provide conditions for when the optimal feedback mechanism takes the simple form of a cutoff....