Thorstein Veblen podcast

This is from Economics in Ten podcast, season two, episode one. Veblen coined ‘conspicuous consumption’: the idea that people buy expensive things partly to signal status rather than for their intrinsic utility. His challenge to the assumption of rational, utility-maximising consumers is surprisingly modern and maps neatly onto the behavioural economics content of the spec. He was also a rather eccentric character, which helps. Pete and Gav clearly enjoy the material and it shows. Accessible and engaging: the conspicuous consumption idea tends to land immediately with students, who can usually think of examples from their own lives before Pete and Gav have finished explaining the concept.  Listen here