Tyler Cowen — The rise of the $8 ice cube, markets in everything

Teaching about Veblen goods and need some examples?

In addition to their cubes, Gläce also offers the “Mariko,” a sphere that the company claims “is the most mathematically efficient way to cool your drink” — though probably not so for your bank account: 50 “spheres” run $325 (same as their cube counterparts).

The mere existence of these goods is evidence of either extreme wealth and income disparity, or else extreme stupidity, as in P. T. Barnum's "There's a sucher born every minute." Maybe both.

It's also a good argument against the "rationality" assumption in economics, unless "rationality" is redefined to mean the opposite of its ordinary language meaning.

Marginal Revolution
The rise of the $8 ice cube, markets in everything
Tyler Cowen | Holbert C. Harris Chair of Economics at George Mason University and serves as chairman and general director of the Mercatus Center