ABSTRACT
By building on an existing literature on the social embeddedness of firms and the links between finance, inequality, and labor market precarity, this chapter focuses on business investment. To do so it begins with Marx's distinction between the circuits of financial and industrial capital. The chapter explores the latter issue in order to go beyond the familiar neoliberalism-creates-precarity argument and heterodox economics more generally. It then discusses the constitutional theory of the firm. The chapter also investigates the links between balance sheets, circuits of capital, and different measures of profitability. It discusses the relationship between financialization, foreign trade, and labor precarity along with some policy implications. An important building block of the business enterprise is its balance sheet which determines profit-making and investment decisions. Drawing on Muller the issue regarding balance sheets can be understood by first considering Marx's distinction between the circuits of industrial and financial capital.
