"On Sabotage" by Veblen
Veblen, however, noted that the sabotage of production by businessmen was a requirement of capitalist systems of production. Waste of human and material resources usually must occur to sustain a profitable price level. 1/
nyti.ms/2XsM1bx
Veblen, however, noted that the sabotage of production by businessmen was a requirement of capitalist systems of production. Waste of human and material resources usually must occur to sustain a profitable price level. 1/
nyti.ms/2XsM1bx
He noted that neoclassical economics conceptualizes capitalist entrepreneurs as engineers who manage a supply chain. Cut inefficiencies, focus on improving output and solving societal problems. For veblen that is not how capitalist entrepreneurs behave 2/
He makes a difference between the businessman and the engineer.Businessman is purely interested in monetary outcomes and could care less about real outcomes.If sustaining the price level and profit means leaving machines and human idles, destroying production,slowing production 3
Then it will be done. Marginal productivity is not the key metric used by capitalist enterprises to decide to employ and produce. A point that Keynes would later reemphasize (and a point that Marx already had emphasize before) 
An illustration of all this is the article above but it hides a routine behavior among capitalist enterprises. As James Roderick, Chairman of the US Steel once commented: "The duty of management is to make money. Our primary objective is not to make steel"
