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nydus/The Theory of Business EnterprisePublic

Thorstein Veblen examines the modern industrial system as a structure defined by the machine process and investment for profit. He analyzes how business enterprise and the pursuit of financial gain serve as the primary forces directing contemporary economic organization.

Page 99 of 422
Table of Contents

Business Pkinciples

[plaee nsort to Ute lifra Ifcat m dw pmai of mtcteat hete.

Aiaoypfca ttneaad place theie is an aooqited

W-'tti^mrf n$e ol profite, more or k» dtjaeif

, vfaidi, it M felt, should aocrne to any

I Itf^tiOMte anr] ordinarily jodicious business vaituie.

Jhmttvt^ dhifty the definition of thia rate of

prtWitfi rnay be, in crjncrete, objective terms, it ia

felt by the men of affairs to be of so sabetantial

I anri conxist^mt a character that tbey habitually

I capitalize the property engaged in any given busi-

' ne«B venture on the basis of this ordinary rate of

1 profits. Due regard being had to any special

advantages and drawbacks of the individual case,

any given buainess venture or plant is capitalized

at such a multiple of its eaming-capacity as the

current ordinary rate of profits will warrant.'

1 Tbu fltatement applies irhh greater apttiess lo tlie buafneu ■IlUb' tioD of EDglud during tlie earlier thre^-qiurlere ol the nineteentb century, SDd Ut the American sltnallon of the tbird qnutw of tlM

BUSINESS PRINCIPLES 89

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