THE THEORY OF LEISURE CLASS | VEBLEN GOODS
The History of Veblen Goods Veblen goods are named after American economist Thorstein Veblen, who first identified conspicuous consumption as a mode of status-seeking in the book: The Theory of the Leisure Class (Published 1899).The testability of this theory was questioned by Colin Campbell due to the lack of complete honesty from research participants. However, a research in 2007 studying the effect of social comparison on human brains can be used as an evidence supporting Veblen. The idea that seeking status can be an incentive to spend was also later discussed by Fred Hirsch. A Veblen good is a type of luxury good for which the demand for a good increases as the price increases, in apparent contradiction of the law of demand, resulting in an upward-sloping demand curve. The higher prices of Veblen goods may make them desirable as a status symbol in the practices of conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure. A product may be a Veblen good because it is a positional good, some
