A joint reading of positional and relational goods

Fiorito, Luca; Vatiero, Massimiliano

doi:10.1428/73101

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Journal article

A joint reading of positional and relational goods

Fiorito, Luca Facoltà di Scienze Politiche, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Italia
Vatiero, Massimiliano Istituto di economia politica (IdEP), Facoltà di scienze economiche, Università della Svizzera italiana, Svizzera

2013

Published in:

Economia politica : Journal of analytical and institutional economics. - Il Mulino. - 2013, vol. 1, p. 87-96

English Both relational and positional goods are based upon an idea of joint consumption - though with opposite signs. Indeed, in both cases, individuals' consumption choices take into account not only the individuals themselves, but others, as well. Given that relational goods provide a form of identity to their consumers, we show that a certain degree of positionality emerges within the consumption of relational goods. Analogously, except in a two-agent context, each positional good also has a relational component. What emerges is a complex structure of economic outcomes based on both relational and positional motives.

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