While death-related household overspending is increasingly an international phenomenon with far-reaching implications, the government responses to it vary greatly throughout the world. This article offers a model of death-related overspending, including both population and governments. The analysis of data from 118 countries empirically supports the main research argument—the decline of traditional hierarchies and simultaneous ascendance of newly-affluent urbanite class, to the backdrop of collectivist society pervaded by superstitions, increase household incentives to spend on death beyond their means. State policy response depends on both the government’s ability to control vested interests and the financial cost of an average funeral.

尽管与死亡相关的家庭超支现象日益成为一种国际性现象，其影响深远，但世界各地政府对此的反应却大相径庭。本文提供了与死亡有关的超支模型，包括人口和政府。对来自118个国家/地区的数据进行的分析在经验上支持了主要的论点-传统等级制度的衰落和新富裕的城市居民阶级的同时崛起，到迷信笼罩的集体主义社会的背景下，家庭支出的诱因超出了他们的承受能力。国家的对策取决于政府控制既得利益的能力和平均葬礼的财务成本。