> In recent crisis writing, there has been a shortage of Veblen. I did find a paper with a decent account of why Veblen matters:
>
> Household Saving, Class Identity, and Conspicuous Consumption
> By Jon D. Wisman
> <http://econpapers.repec.org/paper/amuwpaper/1908.htm>
>
Thanks, interesting.
Here's something that talks about Veblen (behind paywall). I think it's one of the best things anyone's yet written about the crisis:
http://www.bepress.com/cas/vol3/iss2/art3/
Household Debt in the Consumer Age: Source of Growth—Risk of Collapse
Barry Z. Cynamon, University of Chicago Steven M. Fazzari, Washington University in St. Louis Abstract The 2008 U.S. financial upheaval raises important questions about the sources of household consumption and debt growth, along with their macroeconomic effects. We argue that spending and financial preferences evolve as social norms interact with both cultural trends and institutional changes in household finance. We identify historical forces that raised consumption and debt over the past quarter century and interpret these events with Hyman Minsky's financial cycle framework. Strong consumption helped moderate recessions and boost growth since the mid 1980s. But unprecedented household debt has now culminated in a financial crisis that threatens to cause a deep recession.