The common production of economic advantages: Towards an activity-based theory of rent in informational capitalism

Commenting on recent ‘neo-feudal’ tendencies of upward distribution, this article examines information-based rentiership with an approach inspired by Marxian labour and rent theory. We propose that rent extraction in the information economy cannot be reduced to gains from intellectual property or platform market power alone, but also hinges on productive advantages conditioned by various forms of human activity. Unlike land rent, these advantages are socially generated rather than naturally given and partly lie beyond the control of individual firms. This post-Marxian thesis has both critical and constructive aims. We criticise the recent literature on information rentiership for inadequately delineating various types of rent, for overextending the concept of rent on diverse economic phenomena from innovation to commercial capital, and for the opposite inclination to narrowly focus on rentiers’ unproductive market power. Constructively, we aim at a closer analysis of extra-firm activities that improve production conditions and suggest relating the capture of these activities to positions of market dominance and control. As a result, we propose a framework for systematically categorising forms of unpaid human activity that underpin rent extraction in the information economy.