The surplus approach to rent
Theories of rent are wide-ranging. However, whether neoclassical, Marxist, or Proudhonist, they tend to neglect evolutionary institutionalist theorising. Increasingly dominated by the income approach, rent theories need to be expanded, partly to correct existing work, partly to break persistent inte...
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| Language: | English |
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Association Recherche & Régulation
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Revue de la Régulation |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/regulation/20460 |
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| author | Franklin Obeng-Odoom |
| author_facet | Franklin Obeng-Odoom |
| author_sort | Franklin Obeng-Odoom |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Theories of rent are wide-ranging. However, whether neoclassical, Marxist, or Proudhonist, they tend to neglect evolutionary institutionalist theorising. Increasingly dominated by the income approach, rent theories need to be expanded, partly to correct existing work, partly to break persistent intellectual monopoly and oligopoly, and particularly to develop institutional theories of rent. In this paper, I attempt to do so by presenting and evaluating the surplus approach to rent, particularly R.T. Ely’s, highlighting its power and potential and stressing its critiques and contradictions. Drawing, among others, on the original writings of Ely, it is argued that, while the emphasis on property rights, land as a ‘bundle of sticks’, and rent as surplus rather than income help to advance heterodox approaches to rent, the surplus approach is severely limited in its analysis of inequalities and how they can be addressed, especially in extractivist and rentier societies. To unravel long-term inequalities that characterise rent and rentier economies, it is crucial for surplus theorists to engage stratification economics which, in turn, can drive the surplus approach to rent. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-2e03e4990fa2426daf9f6b20567a5d29 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1957-7796 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Association Recherche & Régulation |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Revue de la Régulation |
| spelling | doaj-art-2e03e4990fa2426daf9f6b20567a5d292025-01-30T14:26:44ZengAssociation Recherche & RégulationRevue de la Régulation1957-77962022-01-0131210.4000/regulation.20460The surplus approach to rentFranklin Obeng-OdoomTheories of rent are wide-ranging. However, whether neoclassical, Marxist, or Proudhonist, they tend to neglect evolutionary institutionalist theorising. Increasingly dominated by the income approach, rent theories need to be expanded, partly to correct existing work, partly to break persistent intellectual monopoly and oligopoly, and particularly to develop institutional theories of rent. In this paper, I attempt to do so by presenting and evaluating the surplus approach to rent, particularly R.T. Ely’s, highlighting its power and potential and stressing its critiques and contradictions. Drawing, among others, on the original writings of Ely, it is argued that, while the emphasis on property rights, land as a ‘bundle of sticks’, and rent as surplus rather than income help to advance heterodox approaches to rent, the surplus approach is severely limited in its analysis of inequalities and how they can be addressed, especially in extractivist and rentier societies. To unravel long-term inequalities that characterise rent and rentier economies, it is crucial for surplus theorists to engage stratification economics which, in turn, can drive the surplus approach to rent.https://journals.openedition.org/regulation/20460InstitutionalismPolitical EconomyrentInequalityLandRichard Theodore Ely |
| spellingShingle | Franklin Obeng-Odoom The surplus approach to rent Revue de la Régulation Institutionalism Political Economy rent Inequality Land Richard Theodore Ely |
| title | The surplus approach to rent |
| title_full | The surplus approach to rent |
| title_fullStr | The surplus approach to rent |
| title_full_unstemmed | The surplus approach to rent |
| title_short | The surplus approach to rent |
| title_sort | surplus approach to rent |
| topic | Institutionalism Political Economy rent Inequality Land Richard Theodore Ely |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/regulation/20460 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT franklinobengodoom thesurplusapproachtorent AT franklinobengodoom surplusapproachtorent |