Study 159: Why Does Luxury Cost More? The Price of the Sign

This study answers the category question the series’ measurements keep raising: why does luxury cost more? The answer is that a luxury price fuses two purchases, an object whose cost is computable from public references and a sign whose cost is the remainder, and the industry sells them as one. Using the series’ verified workings, the study prices the sign: 137 of a 190-dollar eau de parfum, the majority holding in a 4.2-floor exotic bag and a 4.5 silk scarf, and, decisively, approximately zero in solid gold, the control category whose publicly printed price leaves the sign nowhere to hide. Th