Founder of institutional economics, author of "conspicuous consumption"
An American economist and sociologist, founder of institutional economics, famed for biting social criticism. Where mainstream economics assumed man a "rational calculator," he pointed out that people’s consumption is often not for use but to flaunt status. In The Theory of the Leisure Class he coined the term "conspicuous consumption" — the rich buy costly, useless things precisely to display to others that "I can afford it." He set economic behavior back in the real soil of social custom and status competition, pricking the assumption of "rational economic man," and deeply shaped later sociology and the study of consumer culture.
Veblen observed a counterintuitive phenomenon: some goods sell better the more expensive they are — because the point of buying them is not use but display. A sky-priced luxury watch is no more accurate than an ordinary one, but it announces its owner’s wealth and status to the world. His coined term "conspicuous consumption" pierced the secret of the luxury economy, and remains one of the sharpest concepts for understanding consumer society.
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.