Mapping Modern Economic Rents
A framework distinguishing value-creating activity from value-extracting economic rent across land, finance, and digital platforms.
Summary
This 2023 Cambridge Journal of Economics paper by Mariana Mazzucato, Josh Ryan-Collins, and Giorgos Gouzoulis builds a modern framework for identifying economic rent — value extracted without corresponding value creation — across the contemporary economy.
Key Contribution
The authors extend the classical analysis of land rent to three domains: land and natural resources, finance, and digital platforms (network and data rents). They argue that distinguishing productive returns from extractive rents is essential for designing taxes and regulation, and that much of what is recorded as "profit" or "capital income" is in fact rent. The paper connects the Georgist tradition to current debates about platform monopolies and financialisation.
Bears On
- Concept: Economic Rent
- People: Michael Hudson
Sources
- Mariana Mazzucato, Josh Ryan-Collins & Giorgos Gouzoulis (2023), "Mapping modern economic rents," Cambridge Journal of Economics. PDF