Mother of Capital

‘As some are pointing at rent to claim that we are moving out of capitalism and into ‘techno-feudalism’, it seems urgent to rethink the relation between capital and rent. In this inventive book, Costa takes us back into the womb of history to show that it was a transmutation of rent that gave birth to capital, and that the two never parted ways since then’

‘Sorting out, as Marx put it, this ‘shitty rent business’, has been a long and winding road. It is fantastic to see Matthew Costa’s book on the topic of rent theory, which will vivify new rounds of debate’

Matthew Costa is an Australian political economist. He has been a sessional lecturer and honorary associate in the Department of Political Economy at the University of Sydney. Alongside his academic work, he has served in economic and advisory roles in the Australian public sector for over a decade. He is currently a Director at New South Wales Treasury, and was previously an economic policy advisor in Australia’s Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. He lives in New South Wales.