Brett Christophers, Who Owns the Economy and Who Pays for It?

Excerpt

Most advanced economies today are characterised by rentier capitalism. Rentier capitalism denotes an economy where incomes have become dominated by rents, where economic life is largely ruled by rentiers and where the socio-political system is geared to supporting rentier activity. Nowhere is this more the case than in the UK where deregulation since the 1970s has produced what has been described as ‘a Rentier’s Paradise’.¹ In this important and readable book, Christophers explores the varieties of modern rentierism, the vast areas of the economy that it affects, and the impact that it has on society. Rather than dwell on moral arguments about rentier income being ‘unearned’, unproductive, or parasitic, Christophers pursues an analysis of the economic causes and consequences of rentier expansion. He concentrates on the UK, which manifests the characteristics of rentier capitalism in a particularly stark form. His analysis and conclusions reach wider than the UK to inform understanding of other countries subject to rentier dominance: perhaps the most pernicious and widespread economic development of our time. …