Do positional goods ru(i)n the Economy?

In the same way that I do not believe in strong demarcation between private and public goods ( excludability and and rivalry of depletion), I think that many goods have a value that is both determined by the available qualities of it and by their distribution across a topology. I developed this theory through working on my PhD. Topology would be: a population, a physical space, a network of agreements, etc.

If you have experience of so-called gentrification, you have experience of an evaluation of price that is co-driven by a topological dynamic.

I think that econometrics-in-networks could be a promising methodology for development of the economical theory of positional goods. I liked the (quite indirect) attempt to popularize the concept in Barabasi’s book The Formula. It can be summarised in a very simple, yet powerful, statement:

When performance is measurable, then value is driven by atomic perfomance.

When performance is not measurable, then value is driven by topological structure.

Personally, I saw this happening all along my research in political struggles in Online Rating Platforms, rating restaurants and in other research.

Recommender Systems are quite a pervasive technology today, and one of the reason whys I choose to focus my PhD Thesis in disinformation is that, as showed by de Rijt et al. in a success-breed-success enviroment, a bit of early disinformation can snowball into an economic success after.

According to Frank and Hirsch, an increase of positional component of value in goods has a ruinous impact on society. This has practical implications. For example, how is determined the economic value of a formal, certified, education? Are universities just selecting already smart people who primarily want to signal their virtues to society, or are universities actually essential for teachign advanced subjectes? This question is no stranger to econometrics, in these days…

Instead of digging more of this topic, I would just say that I am very interested about listening what you have to say on positional goods.

I feel like this would be a life-long research project…