Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/80874 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
IAAEU Discussion Paper Series in Economics No. 01/2012
Publisher: 
University of Trier, Institute for Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the European Union (IAAEU), Trier
Abstract: 
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 allows us to distinguish whether choosing less in absolute terms is really induced by relative consumption concerns, or else by nonmonotonic preferences. We find that relative consumption concerns provide a good explanation for choosing less in the case of some goods, while this is not the case for a number of other goods.
Subjects: 
status consumption
social status
behavioral economics
other-regarding preferences
JEL: 
C91
D63
D10
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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