Buying stuff

NYT post, based on research by Dr. Miller from UNM, suggesting that we buy stuff primarily as a status signal to others. I'm skeptical.

On a related note, I'm also reading the much more persuasive Buying In by Rob Walker, which argues in part that we buy stuff to assert our identity, both as a unique individual and (paradoxically, at the same time) as an identifiable member of a certain culture or subculture. He also points out, with lots of examples, that the idea of the sophisticated consumer who knows all the marketer's tricks dates back to nearly a century ago. Interesting book so far.

Anyway, the NYT blog post has Dr. Miller's test for assessing your consumer behavior. First, list the ten most expensive things you've ever paid for. Next, list the ten things you've paid for that have made you the happiest. His theory, I guess, is that for most people those lists don't match up.

But in the comments, most people's 10 most expensive items are things like degrees, homes, cars, and childcare expenses. And most people's lists actually match up pretty closely -- although I wonder if that comes from making the "most expensive" list before the "happiest" list, instead of vice versa. For instance, off the top of your head, you might not list health insurance as something that made you really happy. But if you've just thought about how much you paid for it, it would be on your mind and you'd think, "Yeah, I guess I would have been pretty unhappy if I went into labor knowing I didn't have health insurance." I also wonder if the exercise would have been more useful if it was limited to consumer goods. But then my list would have looked something like this: laptop, laptop, iPod, iPhone, shoes. Does that stuff make me happy? I think it does, in proportion to how much I spend on it.

The main things that made lots of "happiest" lists without necessarily being on the "most expensive" list were leisure activities, especially travel. People listed vacations, musical instruments, and recreational vehicles (boats, bikes, motorcycles). Lesson: it's worth spending money on experiences that make you happy, but not necessarily on stuff.