John Kenneth Galbraith, who died yesterday at age 97, was a towering figure in the world of economics—both figuratively and (at 6 feet, 8 inches) literally.
Galbraith made a big splash with his 1958 book The Affluent Society in which he contrasted the affluence of the private sector with the squalor of the public sector. Industrial production is all about satisfying trivial consumer needs, he argued, whereas we’d be a lot better off as a society by focusing our resources on things like improving public education and social services.
The result would be a better quality of life, Galbraith reasoned, instead of an ever-increasing quantity of consumer goods. What he failed to understand is that consumer goods and quality of life go hand-in-hand. Just try to imagine true happiness without an xbox 360 attached to your home entertainment system or a 30 GB iPod in the back pocket of your designer jeans.
I’m kidding, of course. And I have smiley pictures of me as a Peace Corps volunteer in rural Bolivia to prove it.
But now, a decade later, I find myself in the customer segment Visa calls the “New Affluent Consumer”. As such, I’m a prime candidate for the Visa Signature card. But which version? Each card has specific rewards and privileges build into it, whether that means airline miles, special restaurant access or discounts at fancy spas. Which version depends on a person’s individual interests, lifestyle, attitudes, preferences and situation—psychographic information that can be largely attained through dynamic surveys and transaction analytics.
For his part, Galbraith didn’t care much for money. In fact, he saw the widening gap between the rich and the poor as a threat to economic stability and even a moral crime. Given that psychographic profile, it’s unclear which Visa Signature card would have suited him best.
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