TY  - JOUR
A1  - Ramakrishnan, Anjali
A1  - Kalkuhl, Matthias
A1  - Ahmad, Sohail
A1  - Creutzig, Felix
T1  - Keeping up with the Patels
BT  - conspicuous consumption drives the adoption of cars and appliances in India
JF  - Energy research & social science
N2  - End-users base their consumption decisions not only on available budget and direct use value, but also on their social environment. The underlying social dynamics are particularly important in the case of consumer goods that implicate high future energy demand and are, hence, also key for climate mitigation. This paper investigates the impact of social factors, with a focus on 'status perceptions', on car and appliance ownerships by urban India households. Using two rounds of the household-level data from the India Human Development Survey (IHDS, 2005 and 2012), we test for the impact of social factors in addition to economic, demographic, locational, and housing on ownership levels. Starting with factor analysis to categorise appliances by their latent characteristics, we then apply the bivariate ordered probit model to identify drivers of consumption among the urban households. We find that while income and household demographics are predominant drivers of car and appliance uptake, the household's perception of status, instrumented by a variable measuring expenditure on conspicuous consumption, emerges as a key social dimension influencing the uptake. The results indicate how households identify themselves in society influences their corresponding car and appliance consumption. A deeper understanding of status-based consumption is, therefore, essential to designing better demand-side solutions to low carbon consumption.
KW  - Residential energy demand
KW  - Perceived socioeconomic status
KW  - Social
KW  - drivers
KW  - Energy policy
KW  - Car ownership
KW  - Appliance diffusion
Y1  - 2020
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2020.101742
SN  - 2214-6296
SN  - 2214-6326
VL  - 70
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  -