Land Rent, Capital, Rate of Profit

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

Series: 

Author:
Ilia Farahani
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.
Copyright Year:
2026
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ISBN:
978-90-04-76321-0
Publication:
30 Jul 2026
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ISBN:
978-90-04-76320-3
Publication:
20 Aug 2026
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About MyBook
Ilia Farahani is a researcher and lecturer in the Department of Human Geography at Lund University in Sweden. His research interests include Marxist geography, the political economy of land and housing in urban contexts, and implications of de-globalization for essential urban services. His work includes studies on spatial inequality, gentrification, land rent, and public housing, as well as land policy, capital switching, and land rent in Swedish and Iranian contexts.
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
 1.1 Pre-Harveyan Urban Analysis and Harvey’s Critique
 1.2 Urbanization as Capitalist Accumulation
 1.3 The Dual Theses: Capital Switching and Spatial Fix
 1.4 Land Rent as a Linchpin in the Analysis of Urbanization
 1.5 Gaps and Tensions in Harvey’s Theory
 1.6 Summary

2 The Evolution of Rent Applications by Harveyan Geographers since the 1980s
 2.1 Periodizing Rent Applications
 2.2 Theoretical Challenges and Controversies over Rent Categories in Urban Contexts
 2.3 Urban Applications of Rent Theory
 2.4 An Unresolved Debate and an Incomplete Project

3 Two Models of Land Rent
 3.1 Harvey’s Spatial Monopoly Model of Land Rent (SMLR)
 3.2 The Turbulent Inter-sectoral Model of Land Rent (TILR)
 3.3 Judging between the Two Models

Part 2 Empirical Comparisons of the Two Models

4 Harvey’s Empirical Evidence Revisited: Inter-sectoral Profitability and US Cities
 4.1 Absolute Rent or Class-Monopoly Rent
 4.2 Measuring Aggregate and Sectoral Rates of Return
 4.3 Profit Rates on the Recent Investment and Capital Switching
 4.4 From Macro to Micro

5 Swedish Municipal Site Leasehold: Capital Switching and Land Policy
 5.1 Municipal Site Leasehold and Its Macroeconomic and Institutional Tensions
 5.2 Capital Switching, Economic Crisis, and Land Rent
 5.3 Final Remarks

6 Shortage of Affordable Housing in Malmö
 6.1 Real Competition and Relative Prices
 6.2 Housing Shortage in Malmö—Empirical Evidence
 6.3 Implications of the TILR for Housing Shortage in Malmö
 6.4 Concluding Remarks

7 The Decline of Iran’s First Public Housing Program
 7.1 Iranian Capitalism, State, and Public Economy
 7.2 Labor Relations and the Aggregate Rate of Profit
 7.3 Financial System, Manufacturing Sector, Technology, and Geopolitical Conflicts
 7.4 The Mehr Housing Program, an Overview
 7.5 Inter-sectoral Analysis and Urban Land Rent in the Iranian Housing Sector

8 Spatial Inequality and Gentrification in Tehran
 8.1 Housing and Spatial Inequality in Tehran
 8.2 Social 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
 10.1 Competition Theories and Economic Theories
 10.2 Harvey and Theories of Competition
 10.3 Competition Theories and Rent Theories
 10.4 Harvey’s Argument against the Concept of Absolute Rent
 10.5 Concluding Remarks

11 The Turbulent Inter-sectoral Model of Land Rent (TILR)
 Summary and Conclusions
Appendix 1: Rent Categories: an Overview
 1.1 Differential Rent
 1.2 Absolute Rent
 1.3 Monopoly Rent
 1.4 Class-Monopoly Rent
Appendix 2: Data Sources
 2.1 Data Sources Used for Chapter 4
 2.2 Data Sources Used for Chapters 5 and 6
 2.3 Data Sources Used for Chapters 7 and 8
References
Name Index
Subject Index
This book will appeal to postgraduate students, university teachers, researchers, and urban strategists interested in debates on Marxist geography, Marxist political economy, and issues in housing and urban land, such as inequalities and uneven development.
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