# In an op-ed, Research Scholar Robert Frank examines the wealthy's spending on luxury goods

1 Faculty News November 23, 2014 ![The New York Times Logo](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/assets/images/uat_027320.jpg?itok=W8xBr66g)>

Excerpt from [The New York Times](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/upshot/conspicuous-consumption-yes-but-its-not-crazy.html?_r=0&abt=0002&abg=0) -- "One common claim is that the wealthy routinely violate the economist’s law of demand. A bedrock principle of economic rationality, this law holds that as the price of a good rises, consumers buy less of it. Many analysts, however, portray the rich as people who lust after what are known as 'Veblen goods' — commodities whose sales actually increase when their prices rise."

[Read more](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/upshot/conspicuous-consumption-yes-but-its-not-crazy.html?_r=0&abt=0002&abg=0)