I never expected to write "Thorstein Veblen reminds me of Robin Hanson," but upon rereading Theory of the Leisure Class he does. Everything is reduced to evolutionary biology. Signaling and status-seeking are at the forefront of virtually every explanation. Industrial habits spring from man’s biological nature, transplanted into a new and strange environment. Had I reread this ten years (I first read it as a teen, and not since, then I hated it) ago, it would have been a revelation. Now it sounds like a typical lunch discussion with the guys, with Spence, Hayek, and Geoffrey Miller sprinkled in.
Veblen, however, is a blowhard as a writer and Robin is not.
Here is Mark Blaug on Veblen. Here are links to Veblen articles. Here are more links. Here is Mencken on Veblen.
I tried two other Veblen books and found them unreadable. The guy deserves much more credit than he gets, especially from conservatives and libertarians, but read the evolutionary biologists first.
#20 in a series of 50.
A wonderful book on signalling in evolutionary biology is The Handicap Principle by Amotz and Avishag Zahavi. I think it is the perfect starting point for all things signalling.
Well, Thorstein Veblen was both the coiner of the phrase “neoclassical
economics” and the first to criticize that school of economics for its
lack of evolutionary emphasis, despite Marshall’s mumblings about
biology as the “Mecca” of economics.
One of Carleton College’s two great contributions to political economy (with Anthony Downs). You’d think they would have learned how to write better
DRR,
The Wikipedia entry on my father describes me as being “known as a
mathematical economist,” although I have been lumped into a variety
of other categories by various folks at various times, some of which
I am more pleased with than others. I should probably admit that
in his Principles text, David Colander claims that I am a “leading
Post Keynesian economist,” but Paul Davidson, editor of the JPKE
has in the past declared that I am no true PK economist. I have
also been labeled a chaos/complexity economist, and some other
things as well, not all of them terribly polite. So there, for
what it is worth, although in general I prefer to resist such
labeling of myself, a game that can become tiresome.
Thank you for your answer Prof. Rosser. I really dig you though I don’t know if I get your maths. You should start your own blog.
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