Thorstein Veblen

Thorstein Bunde Veblen (July 30, 1857 – August 3, 1929) was a Norwegian-American economist and sociologist who, during his lifetime, emerged as a well-known critic of capitalism.

Thorstein Veblen
Born	Thorstein Bunde Veblen (1857-07-30)July 30, 1857 Cato, Wisconsin, U.S.
Died	August 3, 1929(1929-08-03) (aged 72) Menlo Park, California, U.S.
Nationality	American
Institutions	Cornell University University of Chicago University of Missouri
Field	Economics, socioeconomics
School or tradition	Institutional economics
Alma mater	Carleton College Johns Hopkins University Yale University Cornell University
Influences	Herbert Spencer, Thomas Paine, William Graham Sumner, Lester F. Ward, William James, Georges Vacher de Lapouge, Edward Bellamy, John Dewey, Gustav von Schmoller, John Bates Clark, Henri de Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier
Contributions	Conspicuous consumption, conspicuous leisure, trained incapacity, Veblenian dichotomy

Part of a series on
Capitalism
Concepts Austerity Business Business cycle Businessperson Capital Capital accumulation Capital markets Company Corporation Competitive markets Economic interventionism Economic liberalism Economic surplus Entrepreneurship Fictitious capital Financial market Free price system Free market Goods and services Investor Invisible hand Visible hand Liberalization Marginalism Money Private property Privatization Profit Rent seeking Supply and demand Surplus value Value Wage labour
Economic systems Anglo-Saxon Authoritarian Corporate Dirigist Free-market Humanistic Laissez-faire Liberal Libertarian Market Mercantilist Mixed Monopoly State National Neoliberal Nordic Private Raw Regulated market Regulatory Rhine Social State State-sponsored Welfare
Economic theories American Austrian Chartalism MMT Chicago Classical Institutional Keynesian Neo- New Post- Market monetarism Critique of political economy Critique of work Marxist Monetarist Neoclassical New institutional Supply-side
Origins Age of Enlightenment Capitalism and Islam Commercial Revolution Feudalism Industrial Revolution Mercantilism Primitive accumulation Physiocracy Simple commodity production
Development Advanced Consumer Community Corporate Crony Finance Global Illiberal Late Marxist Merchant Progressive Rentier State monopoly Technological
People Adam Smith John Stuart Mill David Ricardo Thomas Robert Malthus Jean-Baptiste Say Karl Marx Milton Friedman Friedrich Hayek John Maynard Keynes Alfred Marshall Vilfredo Pareto Leon Walras Ludwig von Mises Ayn Rand Murray Rothbard Joseph Schumpeter Thorstein Veblen Max Weber Ronald Coase
Related topics Capitalist realism Capitalist state Consumerism Cronyism Culture of capitalism Evergreening Globalization History History of theory Market economy Periodizations of capitalism Perspectives on capitalism Post-capitalism Speculation Spontaneous order Venture philanthropy
Ideologies Anarcho Authoritarian Classical liberalism Democratic Dirigisme Eco Humanistic Inclusive Liberal Liberalism Libertarian Neo Neoliberalism Objectivism Ordoliberalism Privatism Right-libertarianism Third Way
Criticism Anti-capitalism Crisis theory Criticism of capitalism Critique of political economy Critique of work Exploitation of labour Wage slavery
Capitalism portal  Business portal
v t e

In his best-known book, The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899), Veblen coined the concepts of conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure. Historians of economics regard Veblen as the founding father of the institutional economics school. Contemporary economists still theorize Veblen's distinction between "institutions" and "technology", known as the Veblenian dichotomy.

As a leading intellectual of the Progressive Era in the US, Veblen attacked production for profit. His emphasis on conspicuous consumption greatly influenced economists who engaged in non-Marxist critiques of fascism, capitalism, and technological determinism.