'Those memories are being brought back out all the time': Why you never really get over high school
Popularity, one of the defining fixations of adolescence, seems to be seared into our consciousness for decades after we leave school.
coolness-desire-envy
Why We Like Things
What Silicon Valley gets wrong about taste.
But it was also, as I began to realize in my professional life, something that made people like, trust, and value you more.
shifting the focus of knowledge work from production to selection and curation.
The engineering marvels hidden inside six-figure watches
Modern luxury watches can be traced back to one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s younger sisters
What’s the Point of a Drop When Everything’s a Drop?
How shopping became a game of snagging mediocre, limited-run products
Generally speaking, a drop is just a slightly different way of releasing products.
and to prioritize avoiding loss over gaining rewards
Why Have Gourmet Grocers Become Social Clubs?
Gourmet grocers are leaning into the experience.
Why do people collect stuff?
From vinyl albums to items in video games, humans love to collect. But what we're really craving goes beyond stuff itself, research finds.
These Are the 6 Universal Traits of Coolness
What makes someone "cool?" Not just admired or respected—but genuinely, universally cool? We've got the answers...
Status, class, and the crisis of expertise
By celebrating "common sense" over expert authority, populism performs a dramatic status inversion. It gifts uneducated voters the power of knowledge and deflates those who look down on them.
Influencers take heat over lavish lifestyles
As consumer confidence plunges, cracks are showing: TikTok and Instagram users are pushing back against influencers in the comments.
Buy All This, Look Rich
How Quince, the one-stop shop for everything from cashmere sweaters to caviar, seduced a generation of jaded shoppers.
The Birth of Cool
Being cool is hard. Staying cool is harder. It’s an elusive quality, in part because it’s an elusive word with layers of nuanced meaning that peel off...
The secret economics of the Birkin bag
On a flight from Paris to London in 1983 Jane Birkin, an Anglo-French chanteuse and actress, spilled the contents of her overstuffed straw...
Year In Review: The Rise And Fall Of The Hype Watch
Last year, a handful of specific watches – you know the ones – went from "rather expensive, even for a luxury item" to "these prices simply cannot be real." This year, the bubble popped. Here's what happened, and what it means for 2023.
The Psychology of FOMO
One of the many unintended consequences of social media is what is popularly referred to as FOMO - fear of missing out. People see all the wonderful things people are doing and buying in their social media profiles, and fear that they are missing out on the good life, or the…
the-economics-of-girl-talk
He is a music sensation, but Girl Talk neither sings nor plays an instrument. He plays music off reinforced Toughbook laptops protected from his sweat by layers of plastic wrap.
The Four-Letter Code to Selling Just About Anything
What makes things cool?
Why Is Art Expensive? - Priceonomics
How do you sell a six-figure painting? Branding and a heavily "curated" marketplace.
From Forever 21 to Online Shopping, Why Fast Fashion Is So Addictive
Research shows that the brain finds pleasure in the pursuit of inexpensive things, and high-street chains and online retailers sites alike are cashing in.
The Psychology of a Fanboy: Why You Keep Buying the Same Stuff
None of us want to admit it, but chances are we're all fanboys of something. Whether it's a particular brand of software, gadget, or anything else, we
Don’t Surround Yourself With Admirers
Instead, befriend people who inspire awe in you.
LinkedIn Learning Blog: Where Professionals Go to Learn
The LinkedIn Learning Blog is written for professionals by professionals. Discover courses, tips and information that can take your career to new heights.
Atomic Habits of Desire - by Luke Burgis
A dialogue of books: James Clear's "Atomic Habits" and "Wanting"
Why do we buy what we buy?
A sociologist on why people buy too many things.
Why the Best Things in Life Are All Backwards
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The ability to let go of control when one wants it most is one of the most important skills anyone can develop.
Veblen good - Wikipedia
A Veblen good is a type of luxury good, named after American economist Thorstein Veblen, for which the demand increases as the price increases, in apparent contradiction of the law of demand, resulting in an upward-sloping demand curve. The higher prices of Veblen goods may make…
Why Envy Might Be Good for Us
Namibian hunter-gatherers deride those who stand out. What does this tell us about why, and how, we care about fairness?
Envy’s hidden hand
Namibian hunter-gatherers deride those who stand out. What does this tell us about why, and how, we care about fairness?
Minimalism Is Just Another Boring Product Wealthy People Can Buy
I think it’s probably no secret by now that I hate minimalism. I hate it as the incredibly-tedious piece of […]