On Luxury and Equilibrium

Building on a class of transcendental preferences for luxury, explicit solutions for price taking behavior and exchange equilibrium are discussed, which share the analytical tractability of Cobb-Douglas models. Such economies display fundamental positive properties, among which uniqueness and price tâtonnement stability of equilibrium. The monotone comparative statics of the luxury effect is discussed. Pareto sets admit a simple characterization, which generalizes the one set forth by Afriat (1987) so that a richer phenomenology is embraced. Potential lines of progress are envisaged.