The economics of consumption as a social phenomenon: a neglected approach to the analysis of consumption

The paper deals with the early history of a theoretical approach in which consumption is regarded as an essentially social phenomenon and the most important reasons prompting consumption expenditure as connected with the fact that consuming certain goods allows individuals to be identified with specific social groups. Accordingly, it is generally argued that standards of living and consumption expenditure tend to be irreversible and to increase along with the process of growth. In a first phase, covering the 1920ies and 1930ies, some little-known American women economists used in theoretical, empirical and historical analyses these theoretical principles on consumption originally put forward by T. Veblen. In a second phase the same principles were used by well-known economists in the debate of the 1940ies on the empirical results about marginal and average propensities to save. The approach, then, saw some crucial changes that opened up the way to its substantial abandonment.