IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0207075.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of functional and social value on the price of goods

Author

Listed:
  • Kevin Hoefman
  • Aaron Bramson
  • Koen Schoors
  • Jan Ryckebusch

Abstract

According to hedonic pricing theory (HPT) market forces operate on individual characteristics of a good, and the price of a product is the aggregate of the price across those characteristics. The relationship between price and characteristics remains poorly understood because characteristic qualities are hard to quantify, people have varying levels of information about characteristics, and people have heterogeneous preferences over characteristics. By analyzing data from a large, market-driven virtual world we are able to test HPT, while largely avoiding these pitfalls. We find that a linear model with functional characteristics predicts the prices poorly, but a log-linear model performs quite well. Adding social characteristics to this log-linear model improves the predictions substantially. This work strongly supports HPT and demonstrates a “rational” calculus including social value.

Suggested Citation

  • Kevin Hoefman & Aaron Bramson & Koen Schoors & Jan Ryckebusch, 2018. "The impact of functional and social value on the price of goods," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(11), pages 1-12, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0207075
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0207075
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0207075
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0207075&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0207075?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dimson, Elroy & Rousseau, Peter L. & Spaenjers, Christophe, 2015. "The price of wine," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(2), pages 431-449.
    2. Kerwin Kofi Charles & Erik Hurst & Nikolai Roussanov, 2009. "Conspicuous Consumption and Race," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(2), pages 425-467.
    3. Stefan Thurner & Michael Szell & Roberta Sinatra, 2012. "Emergence of Good Conduct, Scaling and Zipf Laws in Human Behavioral Sequences in an Online World," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(1), pages 1-7, January.
    4. 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.
    5. Stephen Malpezzi, "undated". "Hedonic Pricing Models: A Selective and Applied Review," Wisconsin-Madison CULER working papers 02-05, University of Wisconsin Center for Urban Land Economic Research.
    6. Brown, Jeff E. & Ethridge, Don E., 1995. "Functional Form Model Specification: An Application To Hedonic Pricing," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 24(2), pages 1-8, October.
    7. Halvorsen, Robert & Pollakowski, Henry O., 1981. "Choice of functional form for hedonic price equations," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 37-49, July.
    8. Ireland, Norman J., 1994. "On limiting the market for status signals," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 91-110, January.
    9. Luc Renneboog & Christophe Spaenjers, 2013. "Buying Beauty: On Prices and Returns in the Art Market," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(1), pages 36-53, February.
    10. Edward Oczkowski, 1994. "A Hedonic Price Function For Australian Premium Table Wine," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 38(1), pages 93-110, April.
    11. Rosen, Sherwin, 1974. "Hedonic Prices and Implicit Markets: Product Differentiation in Pure Competition," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(1), pages 34-55, Jan.-Feb..
    12. Kelvin J. Lancaster, 1966. "A New Approach to Consumer Theory," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 74(2), pages 132-132.
    13. Jens Hainmueller & Michael J. Hiscox & Sandra Sequeira, 2015. "Consumer Demand for Fair Trade: Evidence from a Multistore Field Experiment," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(2), pages 242-256, May.
    14. Baker, Gregory A. & Burnham, Thomas A., 2001. "The Market For Genetically Modified Foods: Consumer Characteristics And Policy Implications," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 4(4), pages 1-10.
    15. Baker, Gregory A. & Burnham, Thomas A., 2001. "Consumer Response To Genetically Modified Foods: Market Segment Analysis And Implications For Producers And Policy Makers," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 26(2), pages 1-17, December.
    16. 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.
    17. 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.
    18. George A. Akerlof & Rachel E. Kranton, 2000. "Economics and Identity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(3), pages 715-753.
    19. Goodman, Allen C., 1978. "Hedonic prices, price indices and housing markets," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 471-484, October.
    20. Henrik Andersson, 2005. "The Value of Safety as Revealed in the Swedish Car Market: An Application of the Hedonic Pricing Approach," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 211-239, May.
    21. Hamparsum Bozdogan, 1987. "Model selection and Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC): The general theory and its analytical extensions," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 345-370, September.
    22. Werner, Jan, 1987. "Arbitrage and the Existence of Competitive Equilibrium," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(6), pages 1403-1418, November.
    23. Leonardo Bursztyn & Bruno Ferman & Stefano Fiorin & Martin Kanz & Gautam Rao, 2018. "Status Goods: Experimental Evidence from Platinum Credit Cards," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 133(3), pages 1561-1595.
    24. repec:cup:judgdm:v:13:y:2018:i:1:p:99-111 is not listed on IDEAS
    25. Edward Castronova, 2004. "The Price of Bodies: A Hedonic Pricing Model of Avatar Attributes in a Synthetic World," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(2), pages 173-196, May.
    26. Atkinson, Scott E & Halvorsen, Robert, 1984. "A New Hedonic Technique for Estimating Attribute Demand: An Application to the Demand for Automobile Fuel Efficiency," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 66(3), pages 417-426, August.
    27. Brown, Jeff E. & Ethridge, Don E., 1995. "Functional Form Model Specification: An Application to Hedonic Pricing," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(2), pages 166-173, October.
    28. Richard C. Ready & Charles W. Abdalla, 2005. "The Amenity and Disamenity Impacts of Agriculture: Estimates from a Hedonic Pricing Model," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 87(2), pages 314-326.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Andres M Belaza & Jan Ryckebusch & Koen Schoors & Luis E C Rocha & Benjamin Vandermarliere, 2020. "On the connection between real-world circumstances and online player behaviour: The case of EVE Online," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(10), pages 1-15, October.
    2. Vidal-Tomás, David, 2023. "The illusion of the metaverse and meta-economy," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).

    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. 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.
    2. Ahmad, Waseem & Ahmed, Tanvir & Ahmad, Bashir, 2019. "Pricing of mobile phone attributes at the retail level in a developing country: Hedonic analysis," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 299-309.
    3. Çağlayan Ebru & Arikan Eban, 2011. "Determinants of house prices in Istanbul: a quantile regression approach," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 305-317, February.
    4. Gurzki, Hannes & Woisetschläger, David M., 2017. "Mapping the luxury research landscape: A bibliometric citation analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 147-166.
    5. 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.
    6. Pascal Courty & Merwan Engineer, 2019. "A pure hedonic theory of utility and status: Unhappy but efficient invidious comparisons," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 21(4), pages 601-621, August.
    7. Moav, Omer & Neeman, Zvika, 2008. "Conspicuous Consumption, Human Capital and Poverty," CEPR Discussion Papers 6864, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Florian H. Schneider, 2020. "Signaling ideology through consumption," ECON - Working Papers 367, Department of Economics - University of Zurich, revised Jul 2022.
    9. Sung-Ha HwangBy & Jungmin Lee, 2017. "Conspicuous consumption and income inequality," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 69(4), pages 870-896.
    10. Omer Moav and & Zvika Neeman, 2012. "Saving Rates and Poverty: The Role of Conspicuous Consumption and Human Capital," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 122(563), pages 933-956, September.
    11. Wieser, Robert, 2009. "Parameterstabilität in hedonischen Bodenpreismodellen [Stability of Parameters in Hedonic Urban Land Price Models]," MPRA Paper 65859, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. 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.
    13. 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.
    14. Gaetano Lisi, 2011. "The Hedonic Price Function in a Matching Model of Housing Market," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 31(3), pages 2347-2355.
    15. Mejía, Daniel & Restrepo, Pascual, 2016. "Crime and conspicuous consumption," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 1-14.
    16. Perez-Truglia, Ricardo, 2013. "A test of the conspicuous–consumption model using subjective well-being data," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 146-154.
    17. Khamis, Melanie & Prakash, Nishith & Siddique, Zahra, 2012. "Consumption and social identity: Evidence from India," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 83(3), pages 353-371.
    18. Ramírez Muñoz de Toro, Gonzalo R. & Uriarte, Juan I. & Delbianco, Fernando & Larrosa, Juan M.C., 2017. "Un modelo hedónico de precios en línea de automóviles usados en Argentina || A Hedonic Model of Online Prices of Used Cars in Argentina," Revista de Métodos Cuantitativos para la Economía y la Empresa = Journal of Quantitative Methods for Economics and Business Administration, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Quantitative Methods for Economics and Business Administration, vol. 24(1), pages 25-53, Diciembre.
    19. Banuri, Sheheryar & Nguyen, Ha, 2023. "Borrowing to keep up (with the Joneses): Inequality, debt, and conspicuous consumption," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 222-242.

    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:plo:pone00:0207075. 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: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    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.