The economics of fashion

One of my two talks today is on this topic.

Obviously fashion is a signal and maybe it is also a relatively efficient signal.  To the extent signals are wasteful (debatable of course, given sorting considerations), you want a signal which does not have much free entry —  to limit rent-seeking costs – and a signal whose price is greater than marginal cost, to limit total costs of production.  High couture satisfies these requirements to some degree.

Here is a short essay on the economics of fashion.  Here is McClure, Coelho, and others on the economics of fashion.