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I think bullshit jobs are a consequence of massive orgs, which have similar internal problems to command economies seen in places like the USSR. Is it surprising that there is massive waste? However, these large orgs continue to exist since the industries they are in have massive barriers to entry, reducing competition and allowing for lots of dead weight.

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I’m not so sure that the opposite extreme of having a ton of small, redundant competitors who individually cannot optimize economies of scale, would result in anything near globally optimal outcomes.

Yes, the many small competitors scenario means no one achieves economies of scale. There is little to no dead-weight inside each company, but consumers must pay more because the overall system is inefficient.

Going back to the "mega-corp" scenario, if you are a lazy person, a good strategy would be to join an org in a defensible (ideally monopolized) industry and work just hard enough to not get fired. Find yourself a bullshit job!

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