| Name and Link | Type of Resource | Description |
| Veblen : Seminal texts and collections | ||
| Thorstein Veblen. The Theory of the Leisure Class, 1899 The text is available online, here and here OUP Oxford; Reissue edition (28 May 2009) Link to bookseller |
Seminal Text - online | "'Conspicuous consumption of valuable goods is a means of reputability to the gentleman of leisure.' In The Theory of the Leisure Class Thorstein Veblen sets out 'to discuss the place and value of the leisure class as an economic factor in modern life'. In so doing he produced a landmark study of affluent American society that exposes, with brilliant ruthlessness, the habits of production and waste that link invidious business tactics and barbaric social behaviour. Veblen's analysis of the evolutionary process sees greed as the overriding motive in the modern economy; with an impartial gaze he examines the human cost paid when social institutions exploit the consumption of unessential goods for the sake of personal profit. Fashion, beauty, animals, sports, the home, the clergy, scholars - all are assessed for their true usefulness and found wanting. The targets of Veblen's coruscating satire are as evident today as they were a century ago, and his book still has the power to shock and enlighten." |
| Thorstein Veblen. "Why is Economics Not an Evolutionary Science" The Quarterly Journal of Economics Volume 12, 1898. The text is available online, here and here |
Seminal Text - online | -- |
| Thorstein Veblen. The Beginning of Ownership American Journal of Sociology, vol. 4 (1898-9) The text is available online, here |
Seminal Text - online | -- |
| Thorstein Veblen. The Instinct of Workmanship and the Irksomeness of Labor The text is available online, here |
Seminal Text - online | -- |
| Thorstein Veblen. "The Theory of Business Enterprise" 1904 The text is available online, here and here Cosimo Classics (1 Nov 2005) Link to bookseller |
Seminal Text - online | Description Thorstein Veblen was once described by Fortune magazine as "America's most brilliant and influential critic of modern business and the values of a business civilization," and his wisdom and often dry, satiric wit continues to be obvious today. In The Theory of Business Enterprise, first published in 1904, he ravages corporate malfeasance and the greed that was spurring the robber barons of his day. If it all sounds familiar a century later, it's a testament to the timelessness of Veblen's criticisms of the corporate world, the wrongdoings of which today he would readily recognize. Modern readers will appreciate this reintroduction to one of the great economic thinkers. American economist and sociologist THORSTEIN BUNDE VEBLEN (1857-1929) was educated at Carleton College, Johns Hopkins University and Yale University. He coined the phrase "conspicuous consumption." Among his most famous works are The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899), Imperial Germany and the Industrial Revolution (1915), and The Higher Learning in America: A Memorandum (1918). |
| Thorstein Veblen. Absentee ownership: business enterprise in recent times: the case of America Preview text is available online, here |
Seminal Text - online | -- |
| Thorstein Veblen. The Vested Interests and the Common Man, 1919 The text is available online, here |
Seminal Text - online | -- |
| Thorstein Veblen. The Higher Learning In America: A Memorandum On the Conduct of Universities By Business Men (1918) The text is available online, here |
Seminal Text - online | -- |
| Thorstein Veblen. The Engineers and The Price System (1921) The text is available online, here |
Seminal Text - online | -- |
| Charles Camic & Geoffrey M Hodgson The Essential Writings of Thorstein Veblen Routledge Studies in the History of Economics 2010 Link to bookseller |
Book | The 38 selections in the volume include complete texts of all of Veblen’s major articles and book reviews from 1882 to 1914, plus key chapters from his books The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899), The Theory of Business Enterprise (1904) and The Instinct of Workmanship (1914). These writings present a wide range of Veblen’s most significant contributions, especially with respect to the philosophical and psychological foundations of economics, sociology, and other social sciences. A thorougly comprehensive volume, this is the only collection to present Veblen’s writings in chronological order, so that their development can be correctly understood. The volume is edited by a leading sociologist and a prominent economist, who provide extensive introductory essays which include item-by-item commentaries that place each selection in its intellectual-historical context and in relation to subsequent developments in economics. It makes for a valuable source of reference both for students and researchers alike. “There is today a renaissance of interest in the writings of the great institutional economists who were prominent in the first part of the 20th century, and then faded from view as neoclassical economics took over the field. Among these, the writings of Thorstein Veblen are perhaps the most interesting and most relevant to reflection on the current state of economics. This volume, which makes many of his writings readily available, is most welcome.” Richard Nelson, Columbia University, New York, USA |
| Veblen: Interpretations and applications | ||
| Geoffrey M Hodgson The Approach of Institutional Economics Journal of Economic Literature, March 1998 The text is available online, here |
Academic article | Extract.......Veblen (1899, 1919) was the first social scientist to attempt to develop a theory of economic and institutional evolution along essentially Darwinian lines (Hodgson 1993). Veblen’s work shares common features with the much later attempts by economists to use evolutionary metaphors from biology......." |
| Geoffrey M Hodgson The Revival of Veblenian Institutional Economics Journal of Economic Issues, June 2007 The text is available online, here |
Academic article | Extract"" |
| William T. Ganley The Theory of Business Enterprise and Veblen's Neglected Theory of Corporation Finance Journal of Economic Issues, June, 2004 The text is available online, here |
Academic article | |
| John F. Henry PRECURSORS OF KEYNES: MARX, VEBLEN, AND SISMONDI The text is available online, here |
Academic article | |