Luxury Fever: Why Money Fails to Satisfy In An Era of ExcessA new luxury fever has America in its grip. Independent of stock prices, recessions, and inflation rates, the past two decades have witnessed a spectacular and uninterrupted rise in luxury consumption. Ordinary, functional goods are no longer acceptable. Our cars have gotten larger, heavier, and far more expensive. Mansions larger than 30,000 square feet no longer seem extravagant. Wristwatches for the super-rich cost tens of thousands of dollars. We are living in an era of excess. Consider:
Robert Frank caused a national debate in 1995 when he and co-author Philip Cook described the poisonous spread of "winner-take-all" markets. Now he takes a thought-provoking look at the flip side of spreading inequality: as the super-rich set the pace, everyone else spends furiously in a competitive echo of wastefulness. The costs are enormous: We spend more time at work, leaving less time for family and friends, less time for exercise. Most of us have been forced to save less and spend and borrow much more. The annual rate at which American families file for personal bankruptcy has grown to one in seventy. Budgetary pressures have reduced our willingness to fund even essential public services: Our food and water are increasingly contaminated. Potholes proliferate, and traffic delays double every ten years. Frank offers the first comprehensive and accessible summary of scientific evidence that our spending choices are not making us as happy and healthy as they could. Furthermore, he argues that human frailty is not at fault. The good news is that we can do something about it. We can make it harder for the super-rich to overspend, and capture our own competitive energy for the public good. Luxury Fever boldly offers a way to curb the excess and restore the true value of money. |
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adapt American amount average behavior better cars changes chapter choice competition concerns about relative conspicuous consumption consumers cost costly Daniel Kahneman David Miliband decades decisions Diener drug earn economic growth economists Ed Diener effect environmental evidence example experience fact families Ferrari 456 growing happy higher taxes human Ibid important incentives inconspicuous increase individual inequality investment larger less levels living loss aversion luxury tax males measure million nomic Patek Philippe per-capita percent person pollution Porsche premium problem programs progressive consumption tax progressive tax Psychology reason recent reduce relative income relative position reported result satisfaction savings rate serotonin simply smaller houses society someone spending patterns standard stress subjective well-being sumption sumptuary laws tax rates things tion today’s top earners trickle-down trickle-down economics typically United vacation voluntary simplicity Wall Street Journal whereas winner-take-all workers York
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Page 14 - Since the consumption of these more excellent goods is an evidence of wealth, it becomes honorific; and conversely, the failure to consume in due quantity and quality becomes a mark of inferiority and demerit.