Doesn’t buying a nice house contribute to genuine peace and stability while forcing a potential spendthrift to start saving?
Or does it contribute to speculative bubbles, and increase unemployment by forcing ‘stability’ (inflexibility & stasis)?
“Just as the blowing winds preserve the sea from the foulness that would be the result of a prolonged calm, so also corruption in nations would be the result of prolonged—let alone perpetual—peace.”
Just because working out has benefits doesn’t mean it’s not without negative externalities.
Sure, but this is something that could be said of everything—everything has consequences which one has not foreseen. That’s the first law of ecology.
Unless you have specific reason to bring that up, or good evidence that the obvious benefits are outweighed by subtler negative externalities that others have noticed, or something, why are we discussing it?
Because the linked-to study simply says “conspicuous consumption has negative externalities” and the conclusion given is “Avoid Conspicuous Consumption.” I call foul.
‘positional goods’ which, by definition, cannot be augmented, because they rely solely on not being available to others.
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… the production of positional goods in the form of luxuries, such as exceedingly expensive watches or yachts, is a waste of productive resources, as overall happiness is thereby decreased rather than increased.
^ This is specific to wealth and cannot (necessarily) be said of other forms of status, such as fitness.
Or does it contribute to speculative bubbles, and increase unemployment by forcing ‘stability’ (inflexibility & stasis)?
For the record, I agree that home ownership isn’t worth it for most prices. Bad example on my part.
I stand by my original point. Just because working out has benefits doesn’t mean it’s not without negative externalities.
Sure, but this is something that could be said of everything—everything has consequences which one has not foreseen. That’s the first law of ecology.
Unless you have specific reason to bring that up, or good evidence that the obvious benefits are outweighed by subtler negative externalities that others have noticed, or something, why are we discussing it?
Because the linked-to study simply says “conspicuous consumption has negative externalities” and the conclusion given is “Avoid Conspicuous Consumption.” I call foul.
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^ This is specific to wealth and cannot (necessarily) be said of other forms of status, such as fitness.