This Halloween, Americans are expected to spend a near-record amount of $8.8 billion on costumes and other decorations. While the holiday traditionally attracts a core of committed fans, many are also peer-pressured to jump into the festivity’s spending.
Ori Heffetz, professor of applied economics at Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business, is an expert on consumption and studies the psychological, social and cultural aspects of economic behavior. Heffetz says that when it comes to celebrations, Halloween has become the holiday to show off one’s status.
