Keeping up with the Joneses: who loses out?

David Tregear Ulph

Keeping up with the Joneses: who loses out?

Research output: Working paper › Discussion paper

Abstract

This paper investigates how well-being varies with individual wage rates when individuals care about relative consumption and so there are Veblen effects – Keeping up with the Joneses – leading individuals to over-work. In the case where individuals compare themselves with their peers – those with the same wage-rate - it is shown that Keeping up with the Joneses leads some individuals to work who otherwise would have chosen not to. Moreover for these individuals well-being is a decreasing function of the wage rate - contrary to standard theory. So those who are worst-off in society are no longer those on the lowest wage.

Original language	English
Publisher	University of St Andrews
Pages	1-9
Number of pages	9
Publication status	Published - 20 Sept 2014

Publication series

Name	School of Economics & Finance Discussion Paper
Publisher	University of St Andrews
No.	1412
ISSN (Print)	0962-4031
ISSN (Electronic)	2055-303X

Keywords

Veblen effects
Consumer behaviour
Nash equilibrium
Wages and well-being

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

Ulph EconDiscPap 1412
(c) the author 2014
Accepted author manuscript, 1.39 MB

Cite this

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Keeping up with the Joneses: who loses out?

Abstract

Publication series

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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Cite this