Universal Principles of Design, Updated and Expanded Third Edition
by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, Jill Butler
191 Veblen Effect
A tendency to find a product more desirable because it has a high price.
The Veblen effect, proposed by the economist Thorstein Veblen, states that in some cases increasing price can, by itself, increase demand, and decreasing price can, by itself, decrease demand. Conversely, the law of demand tells us that a lower price will increase demand of a product or service and a higher price will decrease demand. The Veblen effect, an exception to the law of demand, is typically associated with luxury items and services such as art, jewelry, clothes, cars, fine wines, hotels, and luxury cruises. According to Veblen, this effect is caused by the human desire for status, of which he asserts two types: pecuniary emulation (the desire ...
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