Digital Veblen Goods
Event details
| Date | 25.03.2025 |
| Hour | 11:45 › 13:00 |
| Speaker | Anthony Lee Zhang - University of Chicago |
| Location |
UniL Campus, Room Extra 126
|
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
| Event Language | English |
We propose a new framework for understanding non-fungible tokens (NFTs), cryptoassets that typically represent digital artwork. We posit that NFTs are digital Veblen goods: consumers demand them partly because other consumers do. Demand for NFT collections is thus fragile; issuers respond by underpricing their NFTs in primary markets, creating profit opportunities for “scalpers.” We construct a simple model of NFT markets emphasizing social forces on demand and verify its predictions empirically. Our results have implications for redesigning NFT primary markets and for interpreting NFT returns.
Links
Practical information
- Informed public
- Free
Contact
- sophie.cadenakauz@epfl.ch