City Research Online

Abstract

In recent years, the concepts of rentiership and intellectual monopoly have gained prominence in discussions about the weakening link between corporate profitability and capital investment in high income countries. However, there have been few if any attempts to construct measures for rentiership and intellectual monopoly using firm-level financial data. The absence of such work, we argue, is symptomatic of challenges in delineating what qualifies as rent – whether it be intangible rent or otherwise. In place of static conceptions of rent and intellectual monopoly, we develop a framework for analyzing rentierization and intellectual monopolization as dynamic and variegated processes that are closely related to financialization. We apply the framework to the analysis of transformation of non-financial firms in the United States since the mid-twentieth century and show how it helps clarify the linkages between firm-level dynamics and trends associated with household inequality, corporate stratification and secular stagnation.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Socio-Economic Review following peer review. The version of record Baines, J. & Hager, S. B. (2024). Rentiership and Intellectual Monopoly in Contemporary Capitalism: Conceptual Challenges and Empirical Possibilities. Socio-Economic Review, is available online at: https://academic.oup.com/ser
Publisher Keywords:	capitalism, financialization, firm strategy, innovation, multinational firms, power
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
Departments:	School of Policy & Global Affairs School of Policy & Global Affairs > International Politics
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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