Theory of Business Enterprise

Veblen's second book and second only in importance to Theory of the Leisure Class whose main themes it further develops. Of all his works, this theoretical analysis of the large-scale corporation and of the institutions of American captialism is closest to a conventional academic treatise and best presents Veblen's affirmative contributions to economics. It provides the fullest elaboration of his views on the cleavage between business and industry, between the making of money and the making of goods, between ownership and technology, between pecuniary and industrial employment and finally between those who perform social functions and those whose behavior leads to waste.