Rent Extraction and Financialization as Causes of Economic Stagnation in the United States
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25071/1874-6322.40623Keywords:
Economic rent, financialization, inequality, debt, virtual wealthAbstract
Rent seeking has made possible growth in financial asset values far beyond what is justified by the extent of productive economic activity. We compile data to show how owners of the bulk of national assets have taken sizable rents from workers and middle-class Americans. The main indicators are growing financialization, stagnant investment and GDP growth, and intensified inequality. Diverse economic agents have, in other words, been for years vying for shares of an anemically growing pie.
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