re: #10 William Lewis

A question that is mostly a thought experiment:

A Veblen good is a type of luxury good for which the demand for a good increases as the price increases, in apparent contradiction of the law of demand, resulting in an upward-sloping demand curve. The higher prices of Veblen goods may make them desirable as a status symbol in the practices of conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure. A product may be a Veblen good because it is a positional good, something few others can own.

If you want that good simply because it works in a specific way that no other good does and you spend month looking for the cheapest possible working copy of that good, is it still a Veblen good?

I am bidding on a Leica M (type 240) digital camera which in many ways is the definition these days of Veblen good. Yet if one wants a digital camera that is a rangefinder, well, that’s it. It’s the only one still on the market. Hence the question :)

And people think economics is boring…

you decide the value of a thing to you. what you’re willing to pay for it or do for it. is it a need or a want, etc.

what other people want it for or are willing to pay for it really isnt relevant to you.

scarcity may have influenced the market price to get it where it is, but shouldnt affect your evaluation of worth to you