Rent-seeking and asset-price inflation: a total-returns profile of economic polarization in America*

This paper reconstructs the National Income and Product Accounts to add asset-price (‘capital’) gains national income derive a measure of total returns. It also treats rent-extraction as charge against GDP, not contribution output. Segregating Finance, Insurance, Real Estate sector from rest private shows that most growth in wealth derives rentier activities – dynamic finance capitalism more than industrial capitalism.