Veblen, Thorstein (Bunde)

(born July 30, 1857, Manitowoc county, Wis., U.S.—died Aug. 3, 1929, near Menlo Park, Calif.) U.S. economist. He grew up in Minnesota and earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from Yale University. Although he taught economics at the University of Chicago and other universities, he was unable to keep any position for long because of his unconventional ideas and the disorder in his personal life. In 1899 he published his classic work The Theory of the Leisure Class, which applied Darwin's evolutionary theories to the study of modern economic life, highlighting the competitive and predatory nature of the business world. With dry humour he identified the markers of American social class, and he coined the term “conspicuous consumption” to describe the display of wealth made by the upper class. His reputation was highest in the 1930s, when the Great Depression was seen as a vindication of his criticism of the business system.

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