Emulation, Inequality, and Work Hours: Was Thorsten Veblen Right?

Samuel Bowles · Yongjin Park

438 citations0/0 files storedThe Economic Journal

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Income, Poverty, and Inequality Labor market dynamics and wage inequality Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics

Abstract

We investigate the manner in which a desire to emulate the rich influences individuals’ allocation of time between labour and leisure, greater inequality inducing longer work hours as a result. Data on work hours in ten countries over the period 1963–98 show that greater inequality is indeed associated longer work hours. These ‘Veblen effects’ are large and the estimates are robust using country fixed effects and other specifications. Because consumption inequality is a public bad, a social welfare optimum cannot be implemented by a flat tax on consumption but may be accomplished by more complicated (progressive) consumption taxes.

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References

1957A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance 2017A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance 1973Job Market Signaling 2009The Theory of the Leisure Class 1963Social Behavior: Its Elementary Forms 1974Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot? Some Empirical Evidence 1993The Quality of Life 2003Income Inequality in the United States, 1913-1998

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