Positional concerns among the poor: does reference group matter? Evidence from survey experiments

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Periodical article

Title:	Positional concerns among the poor: does reference group matter? Evidence from survey experiments
Authors:	Akay, Alpaslan Andersson, Lisa Martinsson, Peter Medhin, Haileselassie
Year:	2014
Periodical:	Journal of African Economies (ISSN 0963-8024)
Volume:	23
Issue:	5
Pages:	673-699
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Ethiopia
Subjects:	social status poverty urban areas
External link:	https://doi.org/10.1093/jae/eju017
Abstract:	Previous research studies suggest a lower degree of positional (status) concerns among people from poor countries. Yet the evidence is limited and most often builds on the assumption that people's reference groups are the same across all individuals. The authors conduct a survey experiment in urban Ethiopia that is modified to include multiplicity of reference groups. They estimate positional concerns considering various reference groups to test whether the low positional concerns found in the literature are due to misspecification of the reference groups. The results show a low degree of positional concern, which is highly stable across different reference groups. App., bibliogr., sum. [Journal abstract]