# Thorstein Veblen Norwegian-American economist and sociologist who coined "conspicuous consumption" and "the leisure class" in his landmark *The Theory of the Leisure Class* (1899). Veblen's institutional economics challenged the orthodox assumptions of rational self-interest and laid groundwork for understanding how elites use wealth as status signaling — analysis directly relevant to mapping modern [[Gilded Age Plutocracy]] and the donor class that fuels the [[Dark Money]] ecosystem. His concept of "trained incapacity" anticipated later critiques of expert capture. His *The Engineers and the Price System* (1921) proposed an engineer-led "soviet of technicians" — the bridge between [[Frederick Winslow Taylor]]'s [[Scientific Management]] and the [[Technocracy]] movement. [[Howard Scott]], founder of [[Technocracy Incorporated]], treated Veblen as a mentor. *Stub — expand with: absentee ownership theory, influence on New Deal economists, relevance to modern inequality analysis, predatory vs. productive distinction.*