Developing countries may have relatively higher levels of conspicuous consumption, because of extreme income inequalities. In spite of the massive volume of “foreign” research, the exact nature of conspicuous consumption has not been fully investigated. Drawing upon existing relevant...

We show that status-driven behavior is largely determined by how connected a community is. Using a unique dataset on car purchases in Southern California, we show that social influence intensifies in suburban communities in which neighbors are likely to know each other well. The effect of...

We study a series of sustained growth models in which households' preferences are affected by the consumption of other households as summarized by average consumption. In endogenous growth models, the equilibrium paths involve lower savings and lower growth than the corresponding efficient...

This study empirically explores the following issue: Does corruption fuel conspicuous consumption? It examines the existence and magnitude of any potential corruption-effect on conspicuous consumption expenditure. Regression analyses of an unbalanced panel data for 20 OECD countries between 2004...

This paper develops an incomplete information model wherein individuals face a trade-off between status and security when deciding the optimal amount of conspicuous consumption. On the one hand, we assume that individuals derive utility from status, which is obtained by signaling wealth through...