Status Goods : Experimental Evidence from Platinum Credit Cards

This paper provides novel evidence on status goods, using a series of field experiments with an Indonesian bank that markets platinum credit cards to high-income customers. In a first experiment, the paper shows that demand for the platinum card gr...

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Main Authors:	Bursztyn, Leonardo, Ferman, Bruno, Fiorin, Stefano, Kanz, Martin, Rao, Gautam
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2017
Subjects:	STATUS GOODS CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION SOCIAL SIGNALING
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/432691494944222346/goods-experimental-evidence-from-platinum-credit-cards http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26756

id	okr-10986-26756
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-267562021-06-14T10:13:35Z Status Goods : Experimental Evidence from Platinum Credit Cards Bursztyn, Leonardo Ferman, Bruno Fiorin, Stefano Kanz, Martin Rao, Gautam STATUS GOODS CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION SOCIAL SIGNALING This paper provides novel evidence on status goods, using a series of field experiments with an Indonesian bank that markets platinum credit cards to high-income customers. In a first experiment, the paper shows that demand for the platinum card greatly exceeds demand for a nondescript control product with identical benefits, suggesting demand for the pure status aspect of the card. Transaction data reveal that platinum cards are more likely to be used in social contexts, implying social image motivations. Combining price variation with information on the use of the card sheds light on the magnitude of the demand for social status. A second experiment provides evidence of positional externalities from the consumption of these status goods. The final experiment shows that increasing self-esteem causally reduces demand for status goods. This suggests that part of the demand for status is psychological in nature, and that social image is a substitute for self-image. 2017-05-24T16:32:18Z 2017-05-24T16:32:18Z 2017-05 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/432691494944222346/goods-experimental-evidence-from-platinum-credit-cards http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26756 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8064 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English en_US
topic	STATUS GOODS CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION SOCIAL SIGNALING
spellingShingle	STATUS GOODS CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION SOCIAL SIGNALING Bursztyn, Leonardo Ferman, Bruno Fiorin, Stefano Kanz, Martin Rao, Gautam Status Goods : Experimental Evidence from Platinum Credit Cards
relation	Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8064
description	This paper provides novel evidence on status goods, using a series of field experiments with an Indonesian bank that markets platinum credit cards to high-income customers. In a first experiment, the paper shows that demand for the platinum card greatly exceeds demand for a nondescript control product with identical benefits, suggesting demand for the pure status aspect of the card. Transaction data reveal that platinum cards are more likely to be used in social contexts, implying social image motivations. Combining price variation with information on the use of the card sheds light on the magnitude of the demand for social status. A second experiment provides evidence of positional externalities from the consumption of these status goods. The final experiment shows that increasing self-esteem causally reduces demand for status goods. This suggests that part of the demand for status is psychological in nature, and that social image is a substitute for self-image.
format	Working Paper
author	Bursztyn, Leonardo Ferman, Bruno Fiorin, Stefano Kanz, Martin Rao, Gautam
author_facet	Bursztyn, Leonardo Ferman, Bruno Fiorin, Stefano Kanz, Martin Rao, Gautam
author_sort	Bursztyn, Leonardo
title	Status Goods : Experimental Evidence from Platinum Credit Cards
title_short	Status Goods : Experimental Evidence from Platinum Credit Cards
title_full	Status Goods : Experimental Evidence from Platinum Credit Cards
title_fullStr	Status Goods : Experimental Evidence from Platinum Credit Cards
title_full_unstemmed	Status Goods : Experimental Evidence from Platinum Credit Cards
title_sort	status goods : experimental evidence from platinum credit cards
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2017
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/432691494944222346/goods-experimental-evidence-from-platinum-credit-cards http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26756
_version_	1764462773503262720

Status Goods : Experimental Evidence from Platinum Credit Cards

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