On the Equilibrium and Welfare Consequences of 'Keeping Up with the Joneses'
25 Pages Posted: 18 May 2015
Abstract
This paper provides an analysis of the social consequences of people seeking to keep up with the Joneses. All individuals attempt to reach a higher rank than the Joneses, including the Joneses themselves. This attitude gives rise to an equilibrium in which all individuals have equal utilities but unequal (gross) incomes. Due to a rat-race effect, individuals devote too much energy to climbing the social scale in this equilibrium. However, laissez-faire equilibrium is an equal-utility constrained social optimum. Unexpectedly, numerical simulations show that this theory could account for the observed distribution of intermediate wages.
Keywords: Keeping up with the Joneses, social interactions, well-being, inequalities, efficiency
JEL Classification: D3, D6, D8, I3, Z1
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