There is still no generally accepted model of consumer behavior. The database for cross-cultural comparison of consumption is poor in quality. No single academic discipline has adequate tools or data for the study of cross-cultural consumer behavior. The development of consumer culture in developing countries is following a different trajectory from the historical path of the west. There is still every reason to think that consumption will increase as incomes rise, but we cannot yet predict how that increase will be apportioned to various goods or sectors.
Simple emulation remains an empirically weak model for prediction.
Bibliography Andrae, Gunilla and Bjorn Beckman 1985. The Social Life of Things. Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy. Belk, Russell 1988. Third World Consumer Culture.