Thorstein Veblen

One of the great thinkers of the early 20th century, American economist and sociologist THORSTEIN BUNDE VEBLEN (1857-1929) is best remembered for coining the phrase "conspicuous consumption." In the waning days of World War I, he turned his expertise on a pressing issue of the day: how to create ...

The Theory of the Leisure Class is one of the great works of economics as well as the first detailed critique of consumerism. Veblen argues that economic life is driven not by notions of utility, but by social vestiges from pre-historic times. Drawing examples from his time (turn-of-the-century A...