Land Rent, Capital, Rate of Profit : A Critique of David Harvey’s Theory of Urban Land Rent / Ilia Farahani.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Farahani, Ilia, author.

Series:

Social Sciences E-Books Online, Collection 2026.

Studies in Critical Social Sciences ; 365/38.

Social Sciences E-Books Online, Collection 2026

Studies in Critical Social Sciences ; 365/38

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

History.

Social sciences.

Other Title:

A Critique of David Harvey’s Theory of Urban Land Rent

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2026.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book provides a critique of David Harvey's theory of land rent and his replacement of Marx's concept of absolute rent with class-monopoly rent, arguing that this shift inadequately addresses crucial theoretical and empirical problems in urban economic geography today. The alternative introduced links land rent to fluctuations in profit rates rather than monopoly pricing. Land Rent, Capital, Rate of Profit seeks to resolve anomalies in Harvey's explanation by incorporating the concept of absolute rent and emphasizing long-term structural economic forces that determine its fluctuations. It draws on an alternative interpretation of Marx's economic theory advanced by Anwar Shaikh in his theory of real competition.

Contents:

Acknowledgments

List of Figures

Introduction

Structural Analysis

Critiquing Harvey from a Marxist Perspective

Part 1 Capitalist Urbanization and the Centrality of Land Rent

1 Harvey and the Structural Analysis of Capitalist Urbanization

1.1Pre-Harveyan Urban Analysis and Harvey’s Critique

1.2Urbanization as Capitalist Accumulation

1.3The Dual Theses: Capital Switching and Spatial Fix

1.4Land Rent as a Linchpin in the Analysis of Urbanization

1.5Gaps and Tensions in Harvey’s Theory

1.6Summary

2 The Evolution of Rent Applications by Harveyan Geographers since the 1980s

2.1Periodizing Rent Applications

2.2Theoretical Challenges and Controversies over Rent Categories in Urban Contexts

2.3Urban Applications of Rent Theory

2.4An Unresolved Debate and an Incomplete Project

3 Two Models of Land Rent

3.1Harvey’s Spatial Monopoly Model of Land Rent (SMLR)

3.2The Turbulent Inter-sectoral Model of Land Rent (TILR)

3.3Judging between the Two Models

Part 2 Empirical Comparisons of the Two Models

4 Harvey’s Empirical Evidence Revisited: Inter-sectoral Profitability and US Cities

4.1Absolute Rent or Class-Monopoly Rent

4.2Measuring Aggregate and Sectoral Rates of Return

4.3Profit Rates on the Recent Investment and Capital Switching

4.4From Macro to Micro

5 Swedish Municipal Site Leasehold: Capital Switching and Land Policy

5.1Municipal Site Leasehold and Its Macroeconomic and Institutional Tensions

5.2Capital Switching, Economic Crisis, and Land Rent

5.3Final Remarks

6 Shortage of Affordable Housing in Malmö

6.1Real Competition and Relative Prices

6.2Housing Shortage in Malmö—Empirical Evidence

6.3Implications of the TILR for Housing Shortage in Malmö

6.4Concluding Remarks

7 The Decline of Iran’s First Public Housing Program

7.1Iranian Capitalism, State, and Public Economy

7.2Labor Relations and the Aggregate Rate of Profit

7.3Financial System, Manufacturing Sector, Technology, and Geopolitical Conflicts

7.4The Mehr Housing Program, an Overview

7.5Inter-sectoral Analysis and Urban Land Rent in the Iranian Housing Sector

8 Spatial Inequality and Gentrification in Tehran

8.1Housing and Spatial Inequality in Tehran

8.2Social Demand, Profitability, and Land Rent

9 Concluding Remarks on Empirical Comparisons of the Two Models

Part 3 Theoretical Foundations of the Two Models

10 The SMLR, TILR, and Theories of Competition

10.1Competition Theories and Economic Theories

10.2Harvey and Theories of Competition

10.3Competition Theories and Rent Theories

10.4Harvey’s Argument against the Concept of Absolute Rent

10.5Concluding Remarks

11 The Turbulent Inter-sectoral Model of Land Rent (TILR)

Summary and Conclusions

Appendix 1: Rent Categories: an Overview

1.1Differential Rent

1.2Absolute Rent

1.3Monopoly Rent

1.4Class-Monopoly Rent

Appendix 2: Data Sources

2.1Data Sources Used for Chapter 4

2.2Data Sources Used for Chapters 5 and 6

2.3Data Sources Used for Chapters 7 and 8

References

Name Index

Subject Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9789004763210

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789004763210 DOI