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<p>Chapter 1 Introduction.-&nbsp;Chapter 2: Rent in Classical Economic, Social and Political Theory.-&nbsp;Chapter 3: Thirteen Types of Rent in the Globalized World.-&nbsp;Chapter 4: Class Reproduction of the Upper Middle Class (Top 20%).-&nbsp;Chapter 5: Stages of Rent-Seeking Under Post-Communism.-&nbsp;Chapter 6:&nbsp; Rent-Securing by the Nation-States and Rent Destruction by Globalization.-&nbsp;Chapter 7: Theoretical and Policy Conclusions.</p>

<div><p>Péter Mihályi is Professor in the Department of Macroeconomics, Corvinus University of Budapest, and Visiting Professor at the Central European University, Hungary. </p><p> </p><p>Iván Szelényi is William Graham Sumner Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Political Science, Yale University, and Max Weber Emeritus Professor of Social Sciences, New York University, Abu Dhabi.&nbsp;</p></div><div><p></p><p></p></div>

<p>“This is an original account of two of the most important social trends today: rising income inequality and declining class mobility.&nbsp; Underlining the contemporary relevance of classical economics and sociology, the authors show how rent-seeking has created a new elite that threatens democracy and entrenches an upper middle class, where economic advantage is passed from one generation to the next. This is social science in the grand tradition — sweeping and urgent in its analysis and implications.” – Bruce Western, Professor of Sociology, Columbia University, USA</p>

“The most important book on recent trends in socio-economic inequality since Piketty`s <i>Capital in the 20th Century</i>.” -- Karl Ulrich Mayer, Stanley B. Resor Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Professor, Institution for Social and Policy Studies, Yale University, USA; Director Emeritus, Max Planck Institute of Human Development, Germany<p></p>

“Inequality is one of the biggest challenges of our time. This book provides an important addition to the debate, combining in an original way economic, sociological and historical analysis” – Gerard Roland, E. Morris Cox Professor of Economics and Professor of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley, USA<p></p>

<p>Mihályi and Szelényi provide a timely contribution to contemporary debates about inequality of incomes and wealth, offering a careful examination of various sources of rent in contemporary societies, and considering several policy options to reduce inequality in order to preserve the meritocratic nature of liberal democracies.</p>

<p>While <i>Rent Seekers, Profits, Wages and Rents </i>acknowledges the rapid and disturbing increase of incomes and wealth in the top 1 or 0.1%, it focuses on the increasing rent component of incomes and wealth in the top 20% as even more consequential. The attention to cutting-edge issues on inequality in macroeconomics, political science and sociology will appeal to social scientists interested in income distribution and wealth accumulation.</p>

<p>Focuses on the top earning 20% of society, rather than the top 1 or 0.1%</p><p>Addresses the role of rent in issues such as class reproduction, wealth, sources of social instability and inequality</p><p>Provides a “post-classical” narrative of political economy</p>