Thorstein Veblen

American economist and sociologist who coined 'conspicuous consumption' and founded institutional economics.

He coined the term "conspicuous consumption" in his 1899 book The Theory of the Leisure Class.^[1][2] Veblen's work examined how individuals compete by displaying wealth and status symbols, and how non-productive use of time signals social status.^[3][4]

Last updated 2026-09-30 from the source article.

Quick Facts

Birth name

Thorstein Bunde Veblen

Born

30 July 1857

Birthplace

Cato, Wisconsin, U.S.

Died

3 August 1929

Place of death

Menlo Park, California, U.S.

Field

Economics, socioeconomics

Education

Carleton College
Johns Hopkins University
Yale University
Cornell University

Contributions

Conspicuous consumption
conspicuous leisure
trained incapacity
Veblenian dichotomy

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

His parents emigrated from Valdres, Norway, in 1847 with few funds and no English.^[5] He attended Carleton College in 1874, where he studied economics under John Bates Clark.^[6] After seven years of unemployment, he returned to graduate school at Cornell in 1891.^[7][8] Veblen died on August 3, 1929, in California.^[9][8]

What the cited sources add

Gunnerson recounts that Veblen once capsized a sailboat and, after being rescued, shook himself like a dog and walked off without thanking his rescuer.^[10] Veblen treated local farmer Kari Bjarnarson "like royalty," bringing him special Turkish cigarettes during visits.^[10] When a young islander tried to photograph Veblen and his second wife, they chased him off the property.^[10] Veblen told a neighbor he believed one could walk through a cornfield and hear the corn grow.^[10]

A 1963 master's thesis by Esther V. Gunnerson describes Veblen building his own cabins and making all their furniture on Washington Island.^[10] While spending summers on Washington Island, Veblen learned Icelandic and used it to translate the Laxdæla saga into English.^[11]

References

Wikipedia, "Thorstein Veblen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hodgson 2004, p. 125–194; Dyson, "Turing's Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe", Pantheon Books (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
"Veblen". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.. facts only, no text reused. dictionary.com
Wikipedia, "Thorstein Veblen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Veblen, "The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study in the Evolution of Institutions", Macmillan, 1899, p. 400 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Thorstein Veblen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Parker Sim 1997, p. 368–369 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Thorstein Veblen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Veblen, "Thorstein Veblen: Reminiscences of His Brother Orson", Social Forces, 1931, p. 187–195; Veblen, "Thorstein Veblen: Reminiscences of His Brother Orson", Social Forces, 1931, p. 187–195; Jorgensen, "Thorstein Veblen: Victorian Firebrand", Routledge, 2017, p. 14; Veblen, "Thorstein Veblen: Reminiscences of His Brother Orson", Social Forces, 1931, p. 187–195; "Thorstein Veblen Farmstead", National Historic Landmarks Program; Veblen, "Thorstein Veblen: Reminiscences of His Brother Orson", Social Forces, 1931, p. 187–195 (we also re en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Thorstein Veblen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Veblen, "The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study in the Evolution of Institutions", Macmillan, 1899, p. 400; Dregni, "Vikings in the Attic: In Search of Nordic America", University of Minnesota Press, 2011, p. 83–84; Ritzer 2011, p. 196–197 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Thorstein Veblen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Samuels, "The Founding of Institutional Economics", Routledge, 2002, p. 225 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Thorstein Veblen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Tilman 1996, p. 12 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Thorstein Veblen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Veblen". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Washington Island's Thorstein Veblen by Esther V. Gunnerson, Master's Thesis, 1963, published washingtonisland.com. facts only, no text reused. washingtonisland.com
Wikipedia, "Thorstein Veblen" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ishida, "Thorstein Veblen on economic man: Toward a new method of describing human nature, society, and history", Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, 2021, p. 527–547; Washington Island's Thorstein Veblen by Esther V. Gunnerson, Master's Thesis, 1963, published washingtonisland.com; Absentee Ownership and its Discontents: Critical Essays on the Legacy of Thorstein Veblen, edited by Michael Hudson and Ahmet Öncü, New York: ISLET-Verlag, 2016 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Thorstein Veblen (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.