Economist and social scientist Thorstein Veblen has been called one of Americaâs most original and creative thinkers. His highly acclaimed treatise âThe Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutionsâ (1899) introduced the term âconspicuous consumption.â Veblenâs body of work remains seminal reading in understanding the modern consumer society and criticisms of capitalism.
Thorstein Bunde Veblen was born on July 30, 1857, in Cato Township, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. He was the sixth of twelve children born to his parents, Thomas and Kari Bunde, who had emigrated in 1847 from Vang, Valdres, Norway. In the summer of 1865, the family moved to Nerstrand, Wheeling Township, Rice County, Minnesota.