Conspicuous consumption and political regimes: Evidence from East and West Germany

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This paper investigates the influence of political regimes on the relative importance of conspicuous consumption. We use the division of Germany into the communist GDR and the democratic FRG and its reunification in 1990 as a natural experiment. Relying on household data that are representative for Germany, our empirical results strongly indicate that conspicuous consumption is relatively more important in East Germany. Significantly, although we find some convergence, a considerable gap in conspicuous consumption expenditures remains even 18 years after the German reunification.

Original languageEnglish
JournalEuropean Economic Review
Volume67
Pages (from-to)62-81
Number of pages20
ISSN0014-2921
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 04.2014
Externally publishedYes