Take the Money and Run: The Business Enterprise in the Age of Money Manager Capitalism

Jo, Tae-Hee and Henry, John F. (2013): Take the Money and Run: The Business Enterprise in the Age of Money Manager Capitalism.

Abstract

Most heterodox theories of the business enterprise base themselves on the Veblenian going concern in which managers pursue the long-run survival and growth of the enterprise, whereas absentee owners are occupied with short-run financial interests. Since Veblen’s era, the capitalist social provisioning process has evolved toward money manager capitalism in a dialectical fashion. At the heart of the transformation are changes in the business enterprise. In this paper, we make a threefold argument. First, while the Veblenian account of a going concern still holds true for many enterprises, more and more of the economy is being directed toward financial concerns. Second, as a consequence, the social provisioning process becomes more unstable and people’s welfare becomes more vulnerable. Third, the concept of a going concern is therefore to be modified in order to put the business enterprise in the context of money manager capitalism.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Thorstein B. Veblen, Hyman P. Minsky, Going Concern, Money Manager Capitalism, Mergers and Acquisitions, Social Provisioning Process
• Subjects: B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches; D - Microeconomics > D2 - Production and Organizations > D20 - General; G - Financial Economics > G3 - Corporate Finance and Governance > G34 - Mergers ; Acquisitions ; Restructuring ; Corporate Governance

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