Thorstein Veblen: Short Bio & Economic Theories & Ideas Essay -- essay

     Thorstein Bunde Veblen (1857-1929) was born in Cato, Wisconsin. He attended Carleton College, as well as the universities of John Hopkins, Yale, and Cornell. He taught political economy and economics from 1892 to 1918 at the University of Chicago, Stanford University, and the University of Misssouri. He retired in 1926 after working for seven years at New York Citys New School for Social Research. He was noted for his significant analysis of our economic system and, by Mark Blaug, for his mastery of the art of satire.          Veblen went against the modern economic beliefs of his day. He identified a problem in our society that most did not. He noticed that the industrialists increased production of goods by hiring engineers to improve efficiency. This, in turn, drove prices down and know profits, so the industry captains cut production to save profits. Ideas like this were prevalent in most of his writings and econ omic theories.           Society, to Veblen, could be described as a division of kindes. The "leisure class" and the "industrious class", the former being described as a predator, parasitic and harmful to society, and the latter being the members who produce goods. This mostly came from his most storied work, The Theory of the Leisure Class, in which he coined the phrase "conspicuous consumption"...