Rentiership and intellectual monopoly in contemporary capitalism: conceptual challenges and empirical possibilities

Abstract

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 the transformation of non-financial firms in the USA 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.