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Share the Wealth: How to End Rentier Capitalism
A new perspective on the neoliberal world through the prism of rents and rentiers
How can we reduce inequalities? How can we make work get better recognition and better pay?
Philippe Askenazy in this new book shows that the current share of wealth is far from natural; it results from rising rents and their capture by the actors best endowed in the economic game. In this race for rents, the world of work is the big loser: while many workers feed capital rents by increased productivity and worsened working conditions, they are stigmatised as unproductive and their earnings stagnate. By proposing a new description of the capital-work relationship, calling for a remobilisation of the world of work, and particularly poorly paid employees, Askenazy shows that there is a more radical alternative to neoliberalism beyond simply redistribution.
How can we reduce inequalities? How can we make work get better recognition and better pay?
Philippe Askenazy in this new book shows that the current share of wealth is far from natural; it results from rising rents and their capture by the actors best endowed in the economic game. In this race for rents, the world of work is the big loser: while many workers feed capital rents by increased productivity and worsened working conditions, they are stigmatised as unproductive and their earnings stagnate. By proposing a new description of the capital-work relationship, calling for a remobilisation of the world of work, and particularly poorly paid employees, Askenazy shows that there is a more radical alternative to neoliberalism beyond simply redistribution.
208 pages, Paperback
Published December 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 7, 2022
This is an update & translation of the author’s 2016 ‘Tous Rentiers!’. So it was based on a compelling idea, but since it was first written it’s been overtaken and outclassed by Brett Christophers’ ‘Rentier Capitalism’.
Running on similar ideological lines to Piketty, the author uses an incredibly broad & confusing definition of ‘rent’. This makes his ‘tous rentiers’ argument all the less convincing. It feels like sleight of hand to simply call so many aspects of value ‘rent’, rather than (as Christophers does) actually explore the prevalence of things that could *actually* comfortably fall within the definition.
In the preface to Rentier Capitalism, Christophers hits the nail on the head: this book’s argument is “moralist tout court. Insofar as the rentier generates income from having rather than doing, that income is understood to be unearned *and therefore undeserved*”.
It’s really an argument about the waning dignity of labour, which is losing out to all other forms of value-generation (‘rent’), but those other forms are disappointingly poorly analysed & under-explained.
Running on similar ideological lines to Piketty, the author uses an incredibly broad & confusing definition of ‘rent’. This makes his ‘tous rentiers’ argument all the less convincing. It feels like sleight of hand to simply call so many aspects of value ‘rent’, rather than (as Christophers does) actually explore the prevalence of things that could *actually* comfortably fall within the definition.
In the preface to Rentier Capitalism, Christophers hits the nail on the head: this book’s argument is “moralist tout court. Insofar as the rentier generates income from having rather than doing, that income is understood to be unearned *and therefore undeserved*”.
It’s really an argument about the waning dignity of labour, which is losing out to all other forms of value-generation (‘rent’), but those other forms are disappointingly poorly analysed & under-explained.
June 20, 2021
Overall very interesting and compelling, still there were moments where the book went into either too much detail, or skipped over complex economic arguments. I found Brett Christophers' book "Rentier Capitalism" more informative and maybe a good primer for this book, as I found Askenazy doesn't go into great detail explaining how the rentier economy works and came to be. I found his critique of minimum wage and universal basic income very enlightening, though.
February 5, 2021
A good overview of propertariansim in the 21st century. I started reading this book with slightly different expectations and I found a bit confusing how the author jumps from one topic to the next one, but Share the Wealth is in my opinion quite informative and has motivated me to learn more about this subject.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews