Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/80873 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
IAAEU Discussion Paper Series in Economics No. 10/2012
Publisher: 
University of Trier, Institute for Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the European Union (IAAEU), Trier
Abstract: 
We test concerns for relative standing with respect to private consumption, income, leisure, savings, and personal characteristics, using data from a classroom survey. Our results show highest degrees of positionality for personal characteristics and income. In order to explain positionality, we employ survey participants' ratings of items with respect to (i) observability and (ii) non-psychological negative externalities on others. Based on these ratings, our results show that non-psychological externalities play an important role for an item's degree of positionality. In contrast to previous research, we find that there is no statistically significant effect of an item's observability on its degree of positionality.
Subjects: 
behavioral economics
relative consumption
other-regarding preferences
relative standing
JEL: 
C91
D63
D10
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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