What is so confusing about Veblen is that he was not worrying about what
Adam Smith worried about when businessmen colluded, which is to say the
probability of price increases and, under static conditions, the reduced
output that would accompany higher prices.  Veblen was concerned about
the loss of output -- the waste -- associated with disruptions at the
interstices.  As I read him, he thought, whether naively or not, that
better coordination among firms would offset any price advances that
might result. And, of course, he was not thinking of a static world.  In
both respects his thought was much like that which Hoover, as an
engineer, brought to the Department of Commerce.  By the time Hoover
became President he had to deal with a wider variety of issues,
including monetary policy and management, and that is, of course,
another and sad story.

Anne Mayhew