Thorstein Veblen, the Norwegian-American economist writing in 1899, noticed that the wealthy didn't just consume — they consumed *visibly*, staging expenditure as a signal of status. He called it conspicuous consumption. What's less discussed is the corollary he drew: that everyone watching them, including other investors and market participants, adjusts their own behavior to match the signal, not the underlying reality. The price of an asset and the social performance of owning that asset become entangled until they're almost indistinguishable. This is a financial problem, not merely a sociological curiosity. When you feel drawn to a position because serious, credible people hold it — and you can *see* them holding it, on podcasts, in letters, at conferences — you are partly pricing in their display, not their analysis. The position looks safer because it is socially legible. Veblen's insight, carried forward into portfolio thinking, suggests a specific discipline: distinguish between the information content of a position and its status content. They travel together and feel identical. One of them compounds. The other performs.

In the last 30 days, which of your financial convictions gained weight because you saw someone you respect publicly hold the same view — and how much of that conviction would survive if they quietly exited without telling you?

Drawing from Institutional Economics / Veblenian Social Theory — Thorstein Veblen (The Theory of the Leisure Class, 1899)