Do You Prefer Having More or More than Others? Survey Evidence on Positional Concerns in France

Abstract:

We investigate whether positional concerns (Veblen [1899] 1970; Hirsch, 1976) vary along several dimensions and domains, namely goods vs. bads, private vs. public, oneself vs. oneself s children, socially visible vs. nonsocially visible. Using a hypothetical survey in France, we replicate the empirical strategy of Solnick and Hemenway (1998; 2005) and test a larger set of socio-demographic variables that can be related to positional concerns. Despite some differences, our results are mostly consistent with those of Solnick and Hemenway (1998; 2005). We emphasize some policy implications.

Keywords::

• behavioral economics
• position
• status