Things that the Joneses buy. Some things are bought for their intrinsic usefulness, for instance, a hammer or a washing machine. Positional goods are bought because of what they say about the person who buys them. They are a way for a person to establish or signal their status relative to people who do not own them: fast cars, holidays in the most fashionable resorts, clothes from trendy designers. By necessity, the quantity of these goods is somewhat fixed, because to increase supply too much would mean that they were no longer positional. What would owning a Rolls-Royce say about you if everybody owned one? Fears that the rise of positional goods would limit growth, since by definition they had to be in scarce supply, have so far proved misplaced. Entrepreneurs have come up with ever more ingenious ways for people to buy status, thus helping developed economies to keep growing.