IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/ordojb/v59y2008i1p91-114n8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fragwürdige Luxussteuern: Statusstreben und demonstratives Konsumverhalten in der Geschichte ökonomischen Denkens / Questionable Luxury Taxes: Status Seeking and Conspicuous Consumption in the History of Economic Thought

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas Tobias

Abstract

In the history of economic thought luxury, status seeking and conspicuous consumption are seen highly divergent. Thus, it is hardly surprising that economic advice with respect to a possible governmental intervention varies with time and perspective. This contribution provides an overview how conspicuous consumption was seen in the history of economic thought and outlines the connection between recent contributions and historical thinking on the issue. On the one hand, recent policy recommendations are often based on the arbitrary definition of status seeking as a zero sum game and partly on an incorrect welfare comparison. On the other hand, specific characteristics of the market demand function for status goods make the taxation of luxuries a venture with incalculable outcomes. Taking these results into account luxury taxes are hard to justify and extremely difficult to design.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Tobias, 2008. "Fragwürdige Luxussteuern: Statusstreben und demonstratives Konsumverhalten in der Geschichte ökonomischen Denkens / Questionable Luxury Taxes: Status Seeking and Conspicuous Consumption in the History," ORDO. Jahrbuch für die Ordnung von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, De Gruyter, vol. 59(1), pages 91-114, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:ordojb:v:59:y:2008:i:1:p:91-114:n:8
    DOI: 10.1515/ordo-2008-0108
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/ordo-2008-0108
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/ordo-2008-0108?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pesendorfer, Wolfgang, 1995. "Design Innovation and Fashion Cycles," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(4), pages 771-792, September.
    2. Edward Miller, 1975. "Status Goods and Luxury Taxes," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(2), pages 141-154, April.
    3. Frank, Robert H, 1985. "The Demand for Unobservable and Other Nonpositional Goods," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(1), pages 101-116, March.
    4. Roger Mason, 1998. "The Economics of Conspicuous Consumption," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1508.
    5. Harold L. Cole & George J. Mailath & Andrew Postlewaite, 1995. "Incorporating concern for relative wealth into economic models," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 19(Sum), pages 12-21.
    6. Congleton, Roger D., 1989. "Efficient status seeking: Externalities, and the evolution of status games," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 175-190, March.
    7. Ng, Yew-Kwang, 1993. "Mixed diamond goods and anomalies in consumer theory : Upward-sloping compensated demand curves with unchanged diamondness," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 287-293, May.
    8. Corneo, Giacomo & Jeanne, Olivier, 1997. "Conspicuous consumption, snobbism and conformism," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 55-71, October.
    9. Ed Hopkins & Tatiana Kornienko, 2004. "Running to Keep in the Same Place: Consumer Choice as a Game of Status," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(4), pages 1085-1107, September.
    10. Douglass C. North, 1991. "Institutions," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 97-112, Winter.
    11. Stephen Edgell & Rick Tilman, 1991. "John Rae and Thorstein Veblen on Conspicuous Consumption: A Neglected Intellectual Relationship," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 23(4), pages 731-744, Winter.
    12. Ng, Yew-Kwang, 1987. "Diamonds Are a Government's Best Friend: Burden-Free Taxes on Goods Valued for Their Values," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(1), pages 186-191, March.
    13. Bagwell, Laurie Simon & Bernheim, B Douglas, 1996. "Veblen Effects in a Theory of Conspicuous Consumption," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(3), pages 349-373, June.
    14. Michael Spence, 1973. "Job Market Signaling," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 87(3), pages 355-374.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Perez Truglia, Ricardo Nicolas, 2007. "Conspicuous consumption in the land of Prince Charming," MPRA Paper 22009, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 22 Mar 2010.
    2. Tobias Thomas, 2013. "What price makes a good a status good? Results from a mating game," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 36(1), pages 35-55, August.
    3. Tran, Anh & Zeckhauser, Richard, 2012. "Rank as an inherent incentive: Evidence from a field experiment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(9-10), pages 645-650.
    4. Mazali, Rogério & Rodrigues-Neto, José A., 2013. "Dress to impress: Brands as status symbols," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 103-131.
    5. Bilancini, Ennio & Boncinelli, Leonardo, 2019. "Wage inequality, labor income taxes, and the notion of social status," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 13, pages 1-35.
    6. Friedrichsen, Jana, 2018. "Signals Sell: Product Lines when Consumers Differ Both in Taste for Quality and Image Concern," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 70, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    7. McClure, James & Kumcu, Erdogan, 2008. "Promotions and product pricing: Parsimony versus Veblenesque demand," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 105-117, January.
    8. Friedrichsen, Jana, 2016. "Signals sell: Designing a product line when consumers have social image concerns," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Market Behavior SP II 2016-202, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    9. Rege, Mari, 2008. "Why do people care about social status?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 233-242, May.
    10. Bilancini, Ennio & Boncinelli, Leonardo, 2012. "Redistribution and the notion of social status," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(9-10), pages 651-657.
    11. Kármen Kovács, 2015. "The Effects and Consequences of Simultaneously Arising Different Network Externalities on the Demand for Status Goods," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 66(3), pages 375-396, July.
    12. Jellal, Mohamed, 2014. "Diaspora transferts et signal de richesse [Diaspora remittances and signaling wealth game]," MPRA Paper 57356, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Bronsert, Anne-Kathrin & Glazer, Amihai & Konrad, Kai A., 2014. "Old Money, the Nouveau Riche and Brunhilde's Marriage Dilemma," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100385, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    14. Anne-Kathrin Bronsert & Amihai Glazer & Kai A. Konrad, 2017. "Old money, the nouveaux riches and Brunhilde’s marriage strategy," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(1), pages 163-186, January.
    15. Anne-Kathrin Bronsert & Amihai Glazer & Kai A. Konrad, 2014. "Old Money, the Nouveaux Riches and Brunhilde’s Marriage Strategy," Working Papers tax-mpg-rps-2014-15, Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance.
    16. Corneo, Giacomo & Jeanne, Olivier, 1999. "Segmented communication and fashionable behavior," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 371-385, July.
    17. Friedrichsen, Jana, 2013. "Image concerns and the provision of quality," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Market Behavior SP II 2013-211, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    18. Bilancini, Ennio & Boncinelli, Leonardo, 2014. "Instrumental cardinal concerns for social status in two-sided matching with non-transferable utility," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 174-189.
    19. König, Tobias & Lausen, Tobias, 2016. "Relative consumption preferences and public provision of private goods," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Market Behavior SP II 2016-213, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    20. Tom Truyts, 2010. "Social Status In Economic Theory," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(1), pages 137-169, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:ordojb:v:59:y:2008:i:1:p:91-114:n:8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.