Returning to the radical analysis of rent (original) (raw)

The value of the city. Rent extraction, right to housing and conflicts for the use of urban space

2021

The extent of residential alienation and urban inequalities made visible in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis shed light on processes of politico-economic transformations that altered the role of housing within society since the late 1970s. The focus on (re-)commodification and financialization has become central in the debate and opened up rich interdisciplinary strands of research on the impacts that these processes have on housing. Building on such a fertile academic body of work, it is paramount to contribute to the setting of the public agenda, putting housing issues at the heart of the political debate and policy actions. Introducing this special issue, the paper is firstly asserting the political dimension of housing. Secondly the issue of urban rent extraction is discussed as crucial, especially in the face of the disruptive effects of extensive processes of re-commodification and financialization of housing and land markets in a context of neoliberal urban policies...

Urban land rent theory: a regulationist perspective

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 2003

S'il est vrai que la rente est un rapport social dominant la re Âpartition de l'espace et son utilisation, l'analyse de la formation du prix du sol urbaine et de l'e Âvolution des valeurs foncie Áres devrait permettre d'e Âclairer la dynamique de la constitution de l'espace urbain dans une formation sociale domine Âe par le mode de production capitaliste (Miguel Dechervois and Bruno The Âret, 1979).

'The shitty rent business': What's the point of land rent theory?

In this introduction to a Virtual Special Issue on land rent, we sketch out the history of land rent theory, encompassing: classical political economy, Marx's political economy, the marginalist turn and subsequent foundations for urban economics, and the Marxist consensus around rent theory during geography's spatial turn. We then overview some of the contemporary strands of literature that have developed since the breakdown of this consensus, namely political economy approaches centred on capital-switching, institutionalism of various stripes, and the rent gap theory. We offer a critical urban political economy perspective and a particular set of arguments run through the review: first, land is not the same as capital but has unique attributes as a factor of production which require a separate theorisation. Second, since the 1970s consensus around land rent and the city dissipated, the critical literature has tended to take the question of why/how the payment exists at all for granted and so has ignored the particular dynamics of rent arising from the idiosyncrasies of land. Amongst the talk of an 'Anthropocene' and 'planetary urbanisation' it is surprising that the economic fulcrum of the capitalist remaking of geography has fallen so completely off the agenda. It is time to bring rent back into the analysis of land, cities and capitalism.

Dwelling services, with an emphasis on imputed rent in the European Union

Imputed rent and actual rent paid by the tenant are inherent in dwelling services. The study presents the estimation method of imputed rent in national accounts. Without imputing this item, gross domestic product (GDP) figures would be skewed. The author examines the distribution of imputed rent within the European Union (EU) member states, and describes the housing condi-tions therein; she also identifies the theory behind the differential distribution of owner-occupied dwellings among member states and analyses EU housing conditions. Using the Esping-Andersen (1990) welfare state typology and national accounts figures, EU member states are clustered based on their imputed rents. Some of the findings align with the Esping-Andersen typology, while others do not. Convergence of liberal, universalistic and conservative welfare regimes is found with respect to housing tenure. In the paper the Mediterranean welfare regime constitutes a separate cluster, just as EU ‘new-comers’ (formerly socialist member states) that showed a completely different character with respect to housing tenure. The study presents two methods (the stratification and the user-cost methods) by which imputed rent was determined for the EU member states. Macro- and micro-level aspects are considered when analysing dwelling services of EU member states, depending on the scope and depth of the examination. The two data sources are based on different methodologies thus satisfy different research purposes. Nonetheless, by leveraging these two data sources, one can achieve deeper insights in-to EU housing conditions.

Rent controls in comparative perspective: Reflections on an international symposium

Radical Housing Journal, 2024

In Scotland, the policy landscape around rent controls is rapidly evolving and full of uncertainty. At this critical moment, an international symposium in Edinburgh brought together activists and academics in similar contexts living with or fighting for rent controls from across Europe and North America. This contribution is organised around reflections from the participants on (1) the history of rent controls in their area; (2) the current rent regulations in operation and their effectiveness; (3) the role of tenants' organisations and (4) landlord and other pro-real estate lobbies in shaping the discourse around rent controls; and (5) reflections on what a satisfactory resolution on the rent control issue might look like and how it relates to other dimensions of the housing system. Our collective hope is that these reflections contribute to sharpening and clarifying the re-emergence of demands for rent control in Europe and North America as a powerful tool-if insufficient by itself-for shaping a decommodified housing system.

The rent gap and transformation of the built environment

ABSTRACT. The theory of rent gap has received much attention in the 1980's literature on gentrification and urban renewal. Two shortcomings in this literature are the neglect of other formula- tions than Neil Smith's and the lack of empirical research efforts to put the theory to a test. This paper attempts to alleviate these shortcomings by first presenting a comparison of alternative for- mulations of rent gap theory, and then presenting the results of an empirical effort to test the theory with historical data on six areas in Malm6, Sweden. These results corroborate the theory, but suggest some modifications.

Rent regulation in 21stcentury Europe. Comparative perspectives

Housing Studies, 2020

The general housing policy trend in Europe has been towards neoliberalization meaning less state involvement in housing market and less government support for housing production. However, private rental markets are still regulated in many European countries. Here, we classify 33 European countries based on rent regulation system and welfare state regime. There seems to be some but not too much correspondence between the welfare state regime and whether rents are controlled. However, it seems that the role of rent regulation depends on the context and one should take a closer look at specific cases. We look at Nordic welfare states that are similar in that all represent the social democratic welfare model but different in their housing regimes by which we mean the basic principles of how housing provision in the country is organized.