Conspicuous consumption — buying what others can’t afford — is a disequilibriating force.  Prices get raised and supply is limited.  The goods that are conspicuously consumed are positional goods.

A similar phenomenon occurs in the stock market.  AAPL currently seems to fit the mold.  Fashion changes.  I don’t much believe in predictions, but I predict that “bite of Apple” will have a new connotation in the foreseeable future.

Epilogue

Perhaps the best possible explanation of “positional good”.

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