Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Plinio Limata
Author-X-Name-First: Plinio
Author-X-Name-Last: Limata
Author-Email: p.limata@lumsa.it
Author-Workplace-Name: LUMSA University 

Author-Name: Paolo Santori
Author-X-Name-First: Paolo
Author-X-Name-Last: Santori
Author-Email: p.santori@lumsa.it
Author-Workplace-Name: LUMSA University 


Title: Blockchain and Institutions (II):  Is The Platform Economy The New Rentier Capitalism? Actualising Achille Loria’s Analysis Of Rent And Its Elision

Abstract: Today there is a growing consensus on the benefits of the platform economy. All the stakeholders are fairly remunerated, and the market sphere is grounded on the parties’ mutual advantage; points of equilibria are reached more efficiently, and costs of production and transaction are lowered thanks to the channels created by the platforms. We question this idyllic picture highlighting their role as value extractors in current market societies, which parallels the role of rent in the modern era’s economic system. Therefore, we employ Achille Loria’s (1857–1943, dubbed ‘the Italian Marx’) philosophical and economic categories to understand whether the platform economy is a form of contemporary rent-seeking and, if so, to suggest steps to avoid its continued, yet hidden, value extraction.

Length: 20 pages
Creation-Date: 2021-01
Publication-Status: 
File-URL: https://repec.lumsa.it/wp/wpC37.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
Number: wpC37
Classification-JEL: 
Keywords: platform economy; rent; Achille Loria; value extraction
Handle: RePEc:lsa:wpaper:wpC37