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Comments on Michael Hudson: Making Capitalism Great Again? A Critique of the “Rentier Takeover†Thesis

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  • J. W. Mason

Abstract

Michael Hudson argues that a new form of financial capitalism has displaced the industrial capitalism of Marx’s day. Unlike earlier capitalists, whose pursuit of lower costs led to improvements in the organization of production, the typical wealth owner today is a passive rentier who, like a feudal landlord, merely claims the surplus from existing production processes. Some form of this vision of financialization is widely held, but, I argue, misleading. It exaggerates the differences between historical and present-day capitalism, and misses the ways in which “finance†and “industry†form complementary parts of a single process. JEL classification: B51, E44, N20

Suggested Citation

  • J. W. Mason, 2021. "Comments on Michael Hudson: Making Capitalism Great Again? A Critique of the “Rentier Takeover†Thesis," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 53(4), pages 574-578, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:reorpe:v:53:y:2021:i:4:p:574-578
    DOI: 10.1177/04866134211028915
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Joel Rabinovich, 2019. "The financialization of the non‐financial corporation. A critique to the financial turn of accumulation hypothesis," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(4), pages 738-775, November.
    2. James R. Crotty, 1990. "Owner–Manager Conflict and Financial Theories of Investment Instability: A Critical Assessment of Keynes, Tobin, and Minsky," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(4), pages 519-542, July.
    3. Michael Hudson, 2021. "Finance Capitalism versus Industrial Capitalism: The Rentier Resurgence and Takeover," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 53(4), pages 557-573, December.
    4. Arjun Jayadev & J.W. Mason & Enno Schröder, 2018. "The Political Economy of Financialization in the United States, Europe and India," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 49(2), pages 353-374, March.
    5. J. W. Mason, 2018. "Income Distribution, Household Debt, and Aggregate Demand: A Critical Assessment," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_901, Levy Economics Institute.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    financialization; circuit of capital; corporate governance; rentiers;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B51 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Socialist; Marxian; Sraffian
    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • N20 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - General, International, or Comparative

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