This chapter discusses the origins and the main approaches to aggregate consumption before the seminal contribution of John Maynard Keynes. It starts with Thorstein Veblen’s critique of Marginalism and of Neoclassical economics and proceeds with his analysis of the notion of conspicuous consumption. Veblen’s ideas on consumption were furthered developed by economists belonging to the American Institutionalist tradition. Hazel Kyrk was a key figure of this tradition when it comes to the theory of consumption. It also briefly presents the views on consumption of women economists in the US also belonging to the institutionalist tradition. The chapter argues that the common thread of all these works was the concept of the social relevance of consumption, and the analysis of consumption patterns as a social phenomenon.