The returns to power: A political theory of economic inequality By ThomasRemington. Oxford University Press. 2023. pp. 432. £64.00 (hbk). ISBN: 978‐0197685952. £19.99 (pbk). ISBN: 978‐0197685969. £13.33 (Kindle ebk). ISBN: 978‐0197685976

of political science at Emory University, raises important questions which are often neglected by pro-market theorists.Economic inequality is growing, governments serve the interests of the rich and powerful, democracy is dying, and some key parts of the Western world are moving towards authoritarianism.The author tries to connect these problems with the rent-seeking issue, and it constitutes the major positive side in his endeavour.Another interesting message is the author's comparison of the economic leader of the Western world, the United States, with authoritarian regimes of the east and his observation that they have similar internal cores and are moving towards the same destination.The most intriguing aspect of The Returns to Power is the admiration of the German ordoliberal vision, which even leads the author to propose incorporating it into an "alternative public philosophy" (pp.316-18).Unfortunately, the book has so many deficiencies that even those parts that constitute its major value need to be read cautiously.One of the most important problems of Remington's book is the lack of coherence in its theoretical framework.The author tries to rely on the public choice approach yet aims to denigrate it at the same time.On the one hand, the book makes clear that "low competition generates rents, which in turn feed inequality" and that low competition is an outcome of rent-seeking but not of market forces (p.82).On the other hand, it does not come to the most logical conclusions presented in the public choice position, and the author appeals for even more government interventions.The author fiercely attacks the intellectual heritage that he tries to use in his arguments.Meanwhile, some of his claims, such as "the public choice [school] overlooked the way in which market power allied with political power" (pp.83-4) or "when it was the powerful rather than the weak who proved to be the greatest enemies of competition, [public choice theorists] forgot the radical implications of their original insights" (p.317), call into question his familiarity with public choice scholarship.Ideological bias is another crucial problem of The Returns to Power.It seems that the major aim of some parts of the book is merely to attack political opponents.