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Veblen goods and urban distinction: The economic geography of conspicuous consumption
Author(s) -
CurridHalkett Elizabeth,
Lee Hyojung,
Painter Gary D.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of regional science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.171
H-Index - 79
eISSN - 1467-9787
pISSN - 0022-4146
DOI - 10.1111/jors.12399
Subject(s) - veblen good , consumption (sociology) , conspicuous consumption , metropolitan area , luxury goods , context (archaeology) , consumer spending , consumer expenditure survey , economics , goods and services , economic geography , economy , geography , business , sociology , public economics , microeconomics , advertising , neoclassical economics , social science , aggregate expenditure , archaeology , recession , keynesian economics , institutional economics
Abstract A fundamental observation of 21st century cities is that they have become great centers of consumption. In this paper, we seek to understand the geographic variation in consumer behavior. Using Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE), we analyze how consumption differs across 21 major U.S. metropolitan areas, and the association between urban characteristics and consumption. We extend previous geographic analysis of consumption to include luxury goods that are socially visible (conspicuous consumption) and luxury goods that are relatively less visible (inconspicuous consumption). Our analysis shows that conspicuous consumption is more sensitive to an urban context than is inconspicuous consumption.