What about all the rents that go to the intellectual property rights?

Sir, Martin Wolf in “Employment policies can ensure a fair share of the feast”, April 11, when commenting on the declining shares of labour income in gross domestic products, in reference also to the latest World Economic Outlook of the International Monetary Fund, describes it as either being a consequence of globalization, in terms of the production being allocated where salaries are lower, or of technology changes. Neither IMF, or Wolf, consider the possibility that there could be other reasons (or “culprits”) involved, like for instance the much intensified award and defence of intellectual property rights around the world, and that has created so many new monopolies that are not really that much regulated, and that frequently manage to extract incredible rents. I mention this since having quite recently heard about the outlandish proposition that “tax saving strategies” should be awarded a patent, it should be clear that any patents like this, when thereafter sold to an investor, will of course then provide immediate and guaranteed returns to capital, and not to labour.