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The positionality of goods and the positional concern's origin

Author

Listed:
  • Martín Leites

    (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía)

  • Analía Rivero

    (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía)

  • Gonzalo Salas

    (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía)

Abstract
We conducted a survey-experimental on a sample of Uruguayan youth to understand what goods are positional, the degree of positional concern, and possible explanations for them. The individual’s degree of positional concern was assessed by asking participants to make a series of choices between hypothetical societies characterized by varying absolute and relative income and consumption levels. We use randomized information treatments to prime participants into competing narratives regarding (i) the goods, (ii) gender, and (iii) sources of inequality in society. The main findings are: (1) the visibility of the goods would not be a necessary condition for their positionality: jewelry, cars, and health insurance are positional goods and; (2) relative income matters; (3) the positional concern is heterogeneous at the individuals level with a bimodal distribution: one group of individuals has a high prevalence of relative concern, while the other is positional-neutral; (4) there are no differences by gender in any case; and (5) individuals are less likely to report positional concerns when differences in income come from effort and inheritance.

Suggested Citation

  • Martín Leites & Analía Rivero & Gonzalo Salas, 2023. "The positionality of goods and the positional concern's origin," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 23-04, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    • Handle: RePEc:ulr:wpaper:dt-04-23
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    File URL: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12008/39744
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    positional goods; questionnaire-experiments; visibility; meritocracy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • C13 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Estimation: General
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior

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