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Inverted U-shaped conformism: An economic model of endogenous responses to the Joneses

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  • Woo, Wai Chiu

Abstract

Based on sociologists’ findings, it is more likely that middle-status people are “keeping up with the Joneses” while both the highest-status and lowest-status people are “running away from the Joneses”. Existing economic models fail to reproduce this inverted-U shaped (IUS) curve. In my model, response to the Joneses is endogenized and is related to one's status position. Under some reasonable assumptions, an IUS pattern will appear. A comparison with a sociological explanation of the same phenomenon and further implications will also be discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Woo, Wai Chiu, 2012. "Inverted U-shaped conformism: An economic model of endogenous responses to the Joneses," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 31-36.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:41:y:2012:i:1:p:31-36
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2011.10.017
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    Keywords

    Keeping up with the Joneses; Status; Positional good;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A14 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Sociology of Economics
    • D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory

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