Mother of CapitalRent, or unearned income, is a pervasive concept in contemporary economics. Economists of all stripes see today's global economy as riddled with harmful rents, but most deny these are intrinsic to capitalism and insist they can be eliminated with the right policies. It begs the question, why is rent theory so critical of the present but so optimistic about the future? In Mother of Capital, Matthew Costa delves into the intellectual and social history