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(February 2013)| In economics, a positional good is a product or
service whose value is at least in part (if not exclusively) a
function of its ranking in desirability by others, in comparison
to substitutes. The extent to which a good's value depends on
such a ranking is referred to as its positionality. The term was
coined by Fred Hirsch in 1976. The broad theme of Hirsch's book,
in which he developed his theory of positional goods, was, he
told the New York Times, that material growth can "no longer
deliver what has long been promised for it - to make everyone
middle-class". This important concept explains why, as economic
growth improves overall quality of life at any particular level,
doing "better" than how your grandparents lived does not
translate automatically into doing "well", if there are as many
or more people ahead of