This paper shows that households with positional concerns and convex status utility use gambling to attempt … Germany, proxying the status orientation of households by their expenditures for conspicuous consumption. Our empirical … results strongly indicate that households who care about status are more likely to participate in gambling and invest more in …

, leading to status consumption and wasteful gift giving. The screening activity is costly not only for the potential husband … money") benefits the candidate but also the woman, and reduces wasteful status consumption spending. Also, aging and …