The Untied Kingdom of Rentierism
Brett Christophers is Professor in the Department of Social and Economic Geography at Uppsala University.
In praise of The New Enclosure:
With his carefully crafted and meticulously researched study, he
has made an essential contribution to our understanding of politics
and government in modern Britain.
*Financial Times*
In praise of The New Enclosure:
The biggest privatisation of all isn't housing, railways, or
utilities, but the oldest source of oligarchic power-land. In this
clear, readable, accessible and maddening book, Brett Christophers
makes clear the massive mismanagement, waste, opacity and
centralisation of wealth that has resulted. Necessary reading for
anyone who wants to know where ruling class power comes from, and
how to take it back.
*Owen Hatherley*
In praise of The New Enclosure:
If you're someone who's interested in Britain-and I mean Britain
tout court: the whole 80,823 square miles of its physical
existence-then this is a book you must read.
*Guardian*
In praise of The New Enclosure:
Brett Christophers's The New Enclosure towers with empirical and
argumentative force. Christophers dissects the process by which 1.6
million hectares, or 8 percent of Britain, ended up in private
hands since the election of Margaret Thatcher. This is a stunning
work of scholarship. It speaks to the history of capitalism and
social inequality, cast as the undemocratic ownership of
nature.
*Orion Magazine*
In praise of The New Enclosure:
British taxpayers have been robbed blind by the recent fire sale of
400 billion pounds of public land. Like Henry VIII's destruction of
the monasteries, Thatcher's privatisation frenzy has led to the
destruction of public assets unprecedented amongst leading
economies, and to the enrichment of landowners and financiers. In
this comprehensive and rigorously researched book, Brett
Christophers opens up a field of study-public land-largely buried
by academia, landowners and no doubt, by financiers. A
must-read.
*Ann Pettifor*
A seminal study
*Guardian*
Our economic present is supposed to be characterised by free
markets, unleashed creative entrepreneurship, the control of
knowledge, and globalisation of production. Yet as Brett
Christophers shows in this incisive and vital study, the supposedly
long-dead rentier is the characteristic capitalist of our age, not
the entrepreneur of neoliberal theory. Thinking beyond the clichés,
and the standard statistical summaries of the economy, he shows
that instead of entrepreneurs there are exploiters of ownership and
control who underinvest in the future. The new rentiers are
everywhere, passively piling up the returns accruing from
investments, from land, from housing, monopolistic utilities,
consumer credit, and the control of platforms, natural resources
and long-term contracts.
*David Edgerton, author of Rise and Fall of the British Nation*
Empirically rigorous and theoretically insightful, Rentier
Capitalism is a fascinating contribution to the debate on the
changing face of British capitalism. Christophers makes a clear and
compelling case that the profits of some of the largest British
corporations stem not from production itself, but from their
ability to exploit their control over critical resources to extract
economic rents.'
*Grace Blakeley, author of Stolen*
Empirically rich and theoretically astute, Rentier Capitalism
offers a definitive account of a central feature of neoliberal
capitalism: the resurgent power of unproductive assets. Spanning
finance, housing, fossil fuels and the public sector out-sourcing
racket, this will be a vital resource for anyone seeking to make
sense of economic inequality and injustice in the UK and
beyond.
*Will Davies*
Our economic present is supposed to be characterised by free
markets, unleashed creative entrepreneurship, the free production
and flow of knowledge, and the frictionless mobility of capital and
production. Yet as Brett Christophers shows in this incisive and
vital study, the supposedly long-dead rentier is the characteristic
capitalist of our age, not the entrepreneur of neoliberal theory.
Thinking beyond the clichés, and the standard statistical summaries
of the economy, he shows that instead of entrepreneurs there are
exploiters of ownership and control who underinvest in the future.
The new rentiers are everywhere, passively piling up the returns
accruing from investments, from land, from housing, monopolistic
utilities, consumer credit, and the control of platforms, natural
resources and long-term contracts.
*David Edgerton*
In this eye-opening, wide-ranging, and pedagogical book, Brett
Christophers reveals the outsized role that rents play in today's
economy-from natural resources to intellectual property, from land
to finance, from infrastructure to digital platforms. This is a
must-read for anyone interested in understanding modern-day
capitalism.
*Gabriel Zucman coauthor of The Triumph of Injustice*
Brett Christophers' comprehensive study of the dominance of rent
will change how we think about inequality. Contemporary capitalism
relies more on controlling something valuable than it does on
making something valuable. Rentier Capitalism is a brilliant and
indispensable book.
*Jodi Dean*
If you want to understand the complexities of modern capitalism,
there is no better place to start than Brett Christophers'
ambitious new exploration of rentierism. Unique in examining this
phenomenon across its multiple facets, Christophers' insightful
analysis reveals the inner workings of rentier capitalism with grit
and detail. This is essential reading for all serious students of
political economy.
*Greta R. Krippner, University of Michigan*
At last! For some years the great and the good have been muttering
about the rentierisation of the economy, without really defining
what they mean. What is rentier capitalism and what do we do about
it? How did capitalism go from being all about "doing" to all about
"having"?
These are some of the most important questions we should be
pondering in the coming years. And now, finally, we have a book
that defines this crucial trend and provides a forensic analysis of
it. An insightful, fascinating read.
*Ed Conway, Sky News Economics Editor, a Times columnist, and
author of The Summit*
To understand the inequalities of wealth and power that define
contemporary capitalism, read this important book. Rentierism
shapes every sphere of our shared lives, Christophers shows, from
energy to real estate, aerospace to health care, and entertainment
to Airbnb. Tracing the different way each sector is organized to
compel payments to those who monopolize its key assets, the book
explains how rent takes multiple forms. It is this variability that
allows capitalism's extraordinary profits--and inequalities--to be
generated at every juncture.
*Timothy Mitchell*
We are plagued by wealth and income inequality, declining
productivity, falling investment, and polarized populations. But
how are they related? Christophers answers that question, in my
view definitively, by showing us how the economy we inhabit is a
province of rents protected by power, in everything from finance
and patents to carbon extraction and land ownership. Few books come
along that fundamentally challenge the way you see the world. This
is one of them. Christophers rewired my understanding of capitalism
on a fundamental level. Piketty told us that the Trente Glorieuses
were a stochastic blip, not a fundamental change. He saw that in
the data. Christophers builds upon this insight a theory as to why
that is that is both compelling and powerful - that the equilibrium
state of capitalism is one of rent accumulation - and that such an
equilibrium is a question of class power exercised through the
state.
*Mark Blyth*
An essential read for anyone thinking about what UK governments
might need to do differently as the pandemic upends the economy,
and people's jobs, without doubt feeding an appetite for some
significant change in the philosophy of public policy.
*The Enlightened Economist*
An important and urgent contribution to our understanding of modern
capitalism.
*openDemocracy*
A striking reminder of the way-in the UK economy, in this
case-concentration of ownership has continued to increase in recent
decades.
*Five Books, Best Economics Books of 2020*
Arguably one of this year's most important books.
*Guardian*
Rentier Capitalism is an autopsy report for a decomposing corpse.
Christophers clinically dissects a corrupted body, before arriving
at a probable cause of death. Of course, capitalism is still with
us, but for those wanting to understand the system more, the better
and sooner to end it, this book is essential reading.
*Socialist Review*
It's all crackling, shimmering stuff ... you'll start seeing
rentiers everywhere, hearing them in every news bulletin, or
envisioning how they all interlock like a lattice of money-pipes,
situated at almost every choke point in supply, and all involved in
massive anti-competitive behaviour.
*Irish Times*
From North Sea oil to the railways to water and electricity, this
is a damning book about what successful British firms actually do -
bid for privatised contracts, charge large rental fees, and sit
back and let the profits come in from poor-quality, monopolised
services.
*Tribune*
Rentier Capitalism presents convincing evidence of the extent to
which rent-seeking has become a central aspect of the British
economy.
*Greater Manchester Housing Action*
Masterful ... a rigorously researched and theoretically insightful
account of how large areas of capitalism have changed from "doing"
to having.
*Dublin Review of Books*
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