Beyond David Graeber: How state intervention creates ‘bullshit jobs’
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Wiley Open Access
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| Format: | Artículo Open Access |
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Wiley
2025
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| _version_ | 1867008952944820226 |
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| author | Alexis Sémanne |
| author_facet | Alexis Sémanne Alexis Sémanne |
| collection | Wiley Open Access |
| contents | Beyond David Graeber: How state intervention creates ‘bullshit jobs’ Alexis Sémanne Economic Affairs Abstract David Graeber describes the malaise of ‘bullshit jobs’ but misattributes their cause to capitalism. I offer a different account: a bullshit job is usually one that would not survive without regulation, subsidy, or legal privilege. Such roles proliferate through state‐driven mechanisms: (1) regulatory inflation that converts productive effort into compliance; (2) distorted economic calculation when prices and profit‐and‐loss signals are muted; (3) the rise of symbolic labour; and (4) monetary interventions that pull talent into administrative and speculative niches. I distinguish perceived alienation from economic value, advance testable cross‐country predictions, sketch an empirical agenda, and propose reforms (legal simplification, deregulation) to reduce meaningless work. 10.1111/ecaf.70013 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| doi_str_mv | 10.1111/ecaf.70013 |
| format | Artículo Open Access |
| id | wiley_oa_10_1111_ecaf_70013 |
| institution | Wiley Open Access |
| license_str_mv | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | wiley_oa |
| spellingShingle | Beyond David Graeber: How state intervention creates ‘bullshit jobs’ Alexis Sémanne Economic Affairs Beyond David Graeber: How state intervention creates ‘bullshit jobs’ Alexis Sémanne Economic Affairs Abstract David Graeber describes the malaise of ‘bullshit jobs’ but misattributes their cause to capitalism. I offer a different account: a bullshit job is usually one that would not survive without regulation, subsidy, or legal privilege. Such roles proliferate through state‐driven mechanisms: (1) regulatory inflation that converts productive effort into compliance; (2) distorted economic calculation when prices and profit‐and‐loss signals are muted; (3) the rise of symbolic labour; and (4) monetary interventions that pull talent into administrative and speculative niches. I distinguish perceived alienation from economic value, advance testable cross‐country predictions, sketch an empirical agenda, and propose reforms (legal simplification, deregulation) to reduce meaningless work. 10.1111/ecaf.70013 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| title | Beyond David Graeber: How state intervention creates ‘bullshit jobs’ |
| topic | Economic Affairs |
| url | https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ecaf.70013 |