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 stigmatized as unproductive and their earnings stagnate. By proposing a new description of the capital-work relationship, calling for a remobilization of the world of work, and particularly poorly paid employees, Askenazy shows that there is a more radical alternative to neoliberalism beyond simply redistribution.

Philippe Askenazy is a specialist of labour and employment relations. He is a senior economist at the French National Center for Scientific Research, and fellow of NIESR (London) and IZA (Bonn). He is also columnist for Le Monde. He is the co-initiator of the collective called the "Appalled Economists", a group aiming to stimulate collective thinking and public expression of economists who do not resign themselves to the predominant neoliberal orthodox doctrine". His "Manifesto of the Appalled Economists" published in 2010 with three co-authors was translated in dozens of languages in Europe and Asia.