- What is a healthy ratio for balancing rentier and entrepreneurial strategies?
- What is our relationship to material ownership and capital investment?
- If we are not entrepreneurial, are we contributing to global inequalities?
Rentier Class vs. Entrepreneurial Class: Tomorrow’s Trade-Offs ǀ One of the sunnier outcomes of the health crisis is that it reminded consumers and producers that, when pushed, we can get by on less. Generational cohorts witnessed this as they found themselves on the same economic page in 2020. Their common ground? Survive.
Facilitated by: Robert Nason, McGill University
Panelists: Ambreen Bhaloo, Foray Group and Susan St Amand, Sirius Financial Services
Now, amid the rise of rentier capitalism, one wonders if the generations are truly aligned. Rentiers are considered damaging because they extract “unearned” value from our economy. They invest in unproductive assets, such as real estate, or reap excessive profits through monopolistic control of infrastructure. For “entrepreneurial” families there is plenty to debate. Do we oppose the “bad” capitalism of the unproductive rentier over “good” capitalism of productive enterprise? Paradoxically, both are inextricably linked. The rentier class is not an anomaly but a common recurrence, one which tends to accompany periods of protracted economic decline. Still, there should be a balance between accumulation of capital and entrepreneurial attitudes that promote its redistribution. The question is: What kind of economy do we want our families build and operate in?
