The Price of Prestige

Contents

chapter 1. Explaining Conspicuous Consumption in International

Relations 1

chapter 2. Status Symbols and Luxury Goods in International

Relations 33

chapter 3. The Aircraft Carrier Club 55

chapter 4. A Contest of Beneficence: Prosociality in International

Relations 90

chapter 5. Big Science and the Transits of Venus: The First Race

to Space 121

chapter 6. Conclusions: Living in a Veblenian World 152

Notes 167

References 187

Index 221