I wonder whether Veblen’s concept of the trophy wives is outdated. Today, there seems to be many wealthy married women that continue to work despite not “needing” to and even after they have achieved a certain social status. Would Veblen say that such couples have not yet reached the “leisure class”? Or is this a modern wrinkle on the definition of leisure (The subtext being we are so wealthy that the wife can work even though everyone knows that she doesn’t need to)?

I found this thread about “gold-digging” in New York amusing: http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/the-economics-of-gold-digging/

-- EdwardNewton - 20 Mar 2008