Rent has replaced profit as the driving force of the economy.

Evidence

The Great Transformation, from feudalism to capitalism, was predicated on the usurpation of rent by profit as the driving force of our socio-economic system. That was why the word capitalism proved so much more useful and insightful than a term like market feudalism. It is this fundamental fact – that we have entered a socio-economic system powered not by profit but by rent – that demands we use a new term to describe it. To think of it as hyper-capitalism or rentier capitalism would be to miss this essential, defining principle. — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 504

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the central distinction between rent- and profit-driven systems that justifies the term technofeudalism.
• XREF: Inverts the title and theme of Polanyi’s ‘The Great Transformation’ — the reader may catch the deliberate echo. — connects to: Rentier income share rose broadly across OECD countries in recent decades. — Greta R. Krippner, The Financialization of the American…, 16; Markets and profits still exist but no longer drive the economy — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 15; A rising rent share of income reduces investment and stunts growth — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 941 (+5 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 504

Broader Connections

• The defining shift to technofeudalism is rent defeating profit. #corroborates (0.90) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 458
• A rising rent share of income reduces investment and stunts growth #expands (0.85) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 941
• Market competition erodes profits but increases rents. #corroborates (0.85) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 468
• Rent beat profit for a century after capitalism’s named birth. #expands (0.80) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 455
• Rent survived capitalism’s golden age embedded within its genome. #expands (0.80) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 469