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Inconspicuous Consumption →
A team of economist have established a term to describe people who ‘spend lavishly on visible goods to prove that they are prosperous’. The term is Conspicuous Consumption. The team conducting the study hypothesized that visible consumption lets individuals show strangers they aren’t poor and by that nature, the lower the racial group’s income is, the more valuable it is to want to demonstrate the personal buying power. Rich people do quite the opposite:Aside from a penchant for fancy cars, these millionaires devote their luxury dollars mostly to goods and services outsiders can’t see: concierge health care, home renovations, all sorts of personal coaches, and expensive family vacations. They focus less on impressing strangers and more on family- and self-improvement. Even when they invest in traditional luxuries like second homes, jets, or yachts, they prefer fractional ownership.
This might explain why we frequently see photos of celebrities dressed like bumps on gossip magazines. They’re true value is in the bank.
