Marx’s Theory of Rent: A ‘Speculative’ Reading

Mitra, Iman

doi:10.1007/978-981-32-9468-4_10

Iman Mitra⁵

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Abstract

Marx’s theory of rent as presented in the Third Volume of Capital has been a well-researched area in the history of political economy but not many of these studies discuss the theory with respect to the exposition of the labour theory of value and primitive accumulation in the First Volume. In this backdrop, the chapter attempts to retrace the trajectory of the theory of rent in Marx’s exposition of capitalism by focusing on the status of land as a ‘commodity without value’ (not produced by labour) within this framework. By critically engaging with the writings of David Harvey and Enrique Dussel, the chapter also explores the methodological innovation in the deployment of ‘rent’ within a value-based interpretation of the capitalist mode of production and the productive ambiguity in positing the distinction between rent and interest in a capitalist society, especially in terms of competition and return on ‘fictitious capital’.

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Notes

1.
Karl (1909, 720–21).
2.
Ibid, 720.
3.
Ibid, 720–21.
4.
Ibid, 721.
5.
Ibid.
6.
Ibid.
7.
Ibid, 120.
8.
Ibid.
9.
Harvey (1982, 330).
10.
Ibid.
11.
Frederick Engels (1909), ‘Preface’ in Karl Marx, Capital, 11.
12.
Ibid, 16.
13.
Dussel (2001).
14.
Marx cited in Dussel, Op. Cit., 82.
15.
Dussel, Op. Cit., 84. The German words in the brackets are Marx’s.
16.
Harvey, Op. Cit., 331.
17.
Ibid, 333.
18.
Ibid, 346.
19.
Ibid, 367. My emphasis.
20.
Fisher and Fuchs (2015).
21.
Christophers (2016).
22.
Marx, Op. Cit., 731.
23.
Ibid, 732.
24.
Dussel, Op. Cit., 82.
25.
Marx, Op. Cit., 732.
26.
Dussel, Op. Cit., 82.
27.
Marx, Op. Cit., 749–60.
28.
Ibid, 749–50.
29.
Ibid, 182–203.
30.
Ibid, 39. In order to avoid the confusion between cost price and value (the actual cost of a commodity), Marx writes, ‘However, the cost of this commodity to the capitalist, and the actual cost of this commodity, are two vastly different amounts. That portion of the value of the commodity which consists of surplus-value does not cost the capitalist anything for the reason that it costs the laborer unpaid labor’ (Ibid, 38).
31.
Ibid, 750.
32.
Ibid.
33.
Ibid.
34.
Ibid, 182.
35.
Ibid, 184.
36.
Ibid.
37.
Ibid. Marx’s emphasis.
38.
Ibid, 186.
39.
See footnote 31
40.
Ibid.
41.
Ibid, 751.
42.
Ibid.
43.
Ibid, 752.
44.
Ibid, 753.
45.
Ibid.
46.
Ibid, 753–54.
47.
Ibid, 754.
48.
Ibid, 755.
49.
See footnote 48.
50.
Ibid, 756.
51.
Ibid.
52.
Ibid, 757.
53.
Ibid.
54.
Ibid, 758.
55.
See footnote 52.
56.
See footnote 54.
57.
See footnote 54.
58.
Ibid, 759. My emphasis.
59.
Ibid, 758–59.
60.
Harvey, Op. Cit., 367.
61.
Ibid, 368.
62.
Ibid.
63.
Ibid.
64.
Ibid.
65.
Ibid, 370.
66.
Ibid.
67.
Ibid, 371.
68.
Marx, Op. Cit., 917–22.
69.
Ibid, 918–19.

References

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Shiv Nadar University, NH-91, Tehsil Dadri, Gautam Buddha Nagar, 201314, UP, India
Iman Mitra

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Institute of Development Studies Kolkata, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Achin Chakraborty
Department of Economics, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Anjan Chakrabarti
Department of Economics, University of Kalyani, Kalyani, West Bengal, India
Byasdeb Dasgupta
Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Samita Sen

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Mitra, I. (2019). Marx’s Theory of Rent: A ‘Speculative’ Reading. In: Chakraborty, A., Chakrabarti, A., Dasgupta, B., Sen, S. (eds) ‘Capital’ in the East. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9468-4_10

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9468-4_10
Published: 24 October 2019
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-32-9467-7
Online ISBN: 978-981-32-9468-4
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