The Turbulent Circulation of Rent: Towards a Political Economy of Property and Ownership in Supply Chain Capitalism

Abstract

AbstractAlthough recent years have seen an efflorescence of research on rent, the emphasis has tended to be placed in the antagonistic relations of distribution that underlie this category. The ways in which rent relations also mediate the expansion of global networks of production and trade, however, are yet to be deciphered. On the other hand, an emerging scholarly interest in questions of logistics and supply chain capitalism has lacked a systematic theorisation of how increasing functional integration in the world economy shapes—and is also shaped by—rent relations. To bridge this gap, this article explores the complex, convoluted relation between property and the social circulation of capital in and beyond land markets. With this, we place into focus the extent to which the logistics revolution has elevated the importance of property relations—and thereby of the rentier class—in the dynamics of accumulation and political conflict under late‐stage capitalism.