Theory of Business Enterprise - Difference Between Making Goods and Making Money

<p><strong style=color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>Thorstein Veblen's <em>The Theory of Business Enterprise</em> is one of the seminal works of economics.</strong></p><p><span style=color: rgba(51 51 51 1)> </span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>Written during the advent of the United States of America's economic boom it analyses the effect of corporate culture on society and the economy.</span></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(51 51 51 1)> Looking at the situation that he saw around him Veblen stated that there was conflict between the old way of economics led by the large businessmen and the new system of industry led by engineers. Business owners Veblen claimed were culpable for solely focusing on profits sometimes reducing production in order to do so. </span></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>The engineers on the other hand were more understanding of the industrial system and focused not just on profits but instead worked for efficiency and the production of products for the wider society. Veblen provides fascinating insight into how economics saw dramatic changes through the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries and many of his theories remain relevant today. </span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>[M]any evidences of keen and profound thought of a high grade of scholarship and of a breadth and sureness of vision . . . penetrated by flashes of inimitable satiric wit that is delightful. - </span><em style=color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>Industrial and Labor Relations Review</em><span style=color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(51 51 51 1)> Extremely acute subtle and brilliant James Hayden Tufts. </span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>Thorstein Veblen was a prominent economic theorist of the early twentieth century who criticized the idea that businesses should aim for profit alone. </span></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><strong style=color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>As a critic of untethered capitalism he has had a large influence on economic thinkers throughout the twentieth century. He died in 1929 just three months before the Wall Street Crash.</strong></p>