ABSTRACT
In Thorstein Veblen's interpretation the monopoly movement and the cyclical expansion and contraction of the economy are interrelated phenomena. The business cycle like the monopoly movement is associated with capitalization and credit expansion. As seen by Veblen capitalist economy is caught between the Scylla of universal monopoly and the Charybdis of the business cycle. According to Veblen, business enterprise is forced by its internal vicissitudes to seek markets and investment opportunities in non-industrialized or backward countries. The economic penetration of these countries lays the foundation for imperialism. Imperialistic politics lead to war and preoccupation with warlike enterprise, and thus cause a reversion to a dynastic system of politics typified by Germany, France, and by the Continental states of the sixteenth and seventh centuries. The objective end of protracted warlike endeavor necessarily shifts from business advantage to dynastic ascendancy and courtly honor.
