Thorstein Veblen：The Theory of the Leisure Class, Excerpt 21

But it is only when taken in a sense far removed from its naive meaning that consumption of goods can be said to afford the incentive from which accumulation invariably proceeds. The motive that lies at the root of ownership is emulation; and the same motive of emulation continues active in the further development of the institution to which it has given rise and in the development of all those features of the social structure which this institution of ownership touches. The possession of wealth confers honour; it is an invidious distinction. Nothing equally cogent can be said for the consumption of goods, nor for any other conceivable incentive to acquisition, and especially not for any incentive to accumulation of wealth.

Source： https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/833
Locator：Excerpt 21 · Verified：2026-10-19 · Verification：Short excerpt

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