Your Weekly Attenborough: Platysaurus attenboroughi

The lizards that don't lie.

By Nathaniel Scharping
Apr 28, 2018 2:29 AMFeb 11, 2020 8:26 PM
newlizardnam.jpg
Platysaurus attenboroughi. (Credit: M. Whiting)

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There's a concept in economics that I've always been a bit fascinated by called a Veblen good. The basic idea: A product or service for which demand goes up the more expensive it gets.

It runs totally counter to the normal precepts of economics, but there's a logic to it. For some things, works of fine art, say, or luxury cars, it's not the physical object itself that's desired, but what it represents.

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