Roundaboutness, or roundabout methods of production, is the process whereby capital goods are produced first and then, with the help of the capital goods, the desired consumer goods are produced.[1]
An argument against Böhm-Bawerk's theory of roundaboutness, in economies with compound interest, was presented by Paul Samuelson[2] during the Cambridge capital controversy.
The concept, interpreted as rising technical composition of capital, is also used by some Marxian authors.[3]