Conspicuous consumption, professions and competitive spending

This paper contributes to the literature on conspicuous consumption and social comparisons by drawing attention to the different extent of social pressures across professional domains and discusses how these pressures translate into conformity with peers. The paper examines peer-effects in the visible expenditures of six professional-managerial groups. Using Britain’s Living Costs and Food Survey (2009-2016), I find differing magnitudes of co-movement across the professional classes with their peer-groups, defined by age and region. In professional groups associated with higher rewards from conspicuous consumption, increases in status-signaling are more strongly associated with conformity to peers than with own income growth.