“The need of conspicuous waste… stands ready to absorb any increase in the community's industrial efficiency or output of goods.”

—  Thorstein Veblen, book The Theory of the Leisure Class

Source: The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899), p. 110

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American academic 1857–1929

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“The requirement of conspicuous wastefulness is… present as a constraining norm selectively shaping and sustaining our sense of what is beautiful.”

Thorstein Veblen book The Theory of the Leisure Class

Source: The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899), p. 126

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