Rent-seeking and asset-price inflation: a total-returns profile of economic polarization in America*

Michael Hudson
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Michael Hudson: Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends (ISLET), Forest Hills, NY and Research Fellow, Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, USA

Review of Keynesian Economics, 2021, vol. 9, issue 4, 435-460

Abstract: This paper reconstructs the National Income and Product Accounts to add asset-price (‘capital’) gains to national income to derive a measure of total returns. It also treats rent-extraction as a charge against national income and GDP, not as a contribution to national output. Segregating the Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate sector from the rest of the private sector shows that most growth in wealth and income derives from rentier activities – from the dynamic of finance capitalism more than that of industrial capitalism.

Keywords: FIRE sector; economic rent in the NIPA; financialization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E01 E12 G12 R30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:rokejn:v:9:y:2021:i:4:p435-460

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