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Who sees what? Demographics and the visibility of consumer expenditures

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  • Heffetz, Ori

Abstract

A growing body of work on social phenomena (like status, peer effects, social comparisons and fashion) rests on assumptions regarding the social observability of consumption activities. The present paper provides new empirical evidence for assessing such assumptions. We analyze data from a unique visibility survey, designed to quantify the relative “cultural” visibility of different consumer expenditures among US households. We investigate the relationship between respondents’ demographics and the expenditures they perceive as visible. We discuss implications for existing and future work.

Suggested Citation

  • Heffetz, Ori, 2012. "Who sees what? Demographics and the visibility of consumer expenditures," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 801-818.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:33:y:2012:i:4:p:801-818
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2012.02.005
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    9. Jürgen Maurer & André Meier, 2008. "Smooth it Like the ‘Joneses’? Estimating Peer‐Group Effects in Intertemporal Consumption Choice," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(527), pages 454-476, March.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Tim Friehe & Mario Mechtel, 2017. "Gambling to leapfrog in status?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 1291-1319, December.
    2. Hillesheim, Inga & Mechtel, Mario, 2013. "How much do others matter? Explaining positional concerns for different goods and personal characteristics," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 61-77.
    3. Leites, Martín & Rivero, Analía & Salas, Gonzalo, 2024. "The positionality of goods and the positional concern’s origin," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    4. Evangelos V. Dioikitopoulos & Stephen J. Turnovsky & Ronald Wendner, 2020. "Dynamic Status Effects, Savings, And Income Inequality," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 61(1), pages 351-382, February.
    5. Guillermo Alves & Martín Leites & Gonzalo Salas, 2022. "See it to believe it. Experimental evidence on status good consumption among the youth," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 22-12, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    6. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/vbu6kd1s68o6r34k5bcm3iopv is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Clément Bellet, 2017. "Essays on inequality, social preferences and consumer behavior [Inégalités, préférences sociales et comportement du consommateur]," SciencePo Working papers Main tel-03455045, HAL.
    8. Clément S. Bellet, 2017. "The paradox of the Joneses: superstar houses and mortgage frenzy in suburban America," CEP Discussion Papers dp1462, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    9. Kazumi Shimizu & Yoshio Kamijo & Hiroki Ozono & Akira Goto, 2020. "Causes and Effects of Wealth Inequality: visibility leads to a tradeoff between social mobility and wealth satisfaction," Working Papers 2017, Waseda University, Faculty of Political Science and Economics.
    10. Chantal Herberholz & Nattaya Prapaipanich, 2017. "Conspicuous Consumption Of Online Social Networking Devices And Subjective Well-Being Of Bangkokians," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 64(05), pages 1371-1395, June.
    11. Ori Heffetz, 2018. "Expenditure Visibility and Consumer Behavior: New Evidence," NBER Working Papers 25161, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/vbu6kd1s68o6r34k5bcm3iopv is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Babutsidze, Zakaria & Chai, Andreas, 2018. "Look at me Saving the Planet! The Imitation of Visible Green Behavior and its Impact on the Climate Value-Action Gap," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 290-303.
    14. Barkemeyer, Ralf & Young, C. William & Chintakayala, Phani Kumar & Owen, Anne, 2023. "Eco-labels, conspicuous conservation and moral licensing: An indirect behavioural rebound effect," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(PA).
    15. Clément Bellet, 2017. "Essays on inequality, social preferences and consumer behavior [Inégalités, préférences sociales et comportement du consommateur]," SciencePo Working papers tel-03455045, HAL.
    16. Undurraga, Eduardo A. & Nica, Veronica & Zhang, Rebecca & Mensah, Irene C. & Godoy, Ricardo A., 2016. "Individual health and the visibility of village economic inequality: Longitudinal evidence from native Amazonians in Bolivia," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 18-26.
    17. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/1ej8deo44v9t38bpf73n3rflp8 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/1ej8deo44v9t38bpf73n3rflp8 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Ahmad Naimzada & Marina Pireddu, 2020. "A general equilibrium evolutionary model with two groups of agents, generating fashion cycle dynamics," Decisions in Economics and Finance, Springer;Associazione per la Matematica, vol. 43(1), pages 155-185, June.
    20. Bellet, Clement, 2017. "The paradox of the Joneses: superstar houses andmortgage frenzy in suburban America," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 69044, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Expenditure visibility; Expenditure observability; Conspicuous consumption; Survey data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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