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The Economics of Conspicuous Consumption: Theory and Thought Since 1700 Author: Roger Mason Publisher: Edward Elgar2
The Economics of Conspicuous Consumption is an intellectual history, spanning almost three centuries, of the ways in which social scientists and especially economists have thought about - or, more often, ignored - the use by consumers of socially visible goods to solidify or achieve social standing. In Roger Mason's 1981 book on the same subject, the British professor called for further theoretical and empirical investigation of conspicuous consumption. Despite the passage of nearly two decades, Mason's message remains largely the same: that economists continue to marginalize the study of conspicuous consumption, to their detriment and that of society. Although Mason calls for new models of consumer decision making that incorporate and elucidate conspicuous consumption, his book is backward looking, explaining why conspicuous consumption has been largely overlooked by economists.
Mason's recounting of the story by which thinkers have addressed conspicuous consumption is impressive in both its historical and disciplinary sweep. Although the first objections to ostentation were rooted in religious beliefs (recall the deadly sins of pride, envy, gluttony, and covetousness), Mason picks up the story in the early 18th century and focuses on efforts to analyze the impact of ostentatious display on economic rather than moral wellbeing. Mercantilist thought, for example, held that thriftled to prosperity, so conversely, extravagance inhibited economic progress. Mason notes that mercantilist doctrine was hypocritical inasmuch as it ignored the conspicuous consumption of political and commercial elites in cities like London and Amsterdam. Such inconsistencies between words and action could not help but open the doors to thinkers, like Bernard Mandeville, the French Physiocrats, and even Adam Smith who saw some value in the urge to consume with the purpose of impressing others.
From this starting point at the beginning of the industrial revolution, Mason examines the struggle of economists...