ABSTRACT
Globalization and the deployment of innovations associated with information technologies should have fostered a new golden age for capital accumulation. This has not been the case. This puzzle has many dimensions. This chapter explores the role of predation as a means of making profits without accumulating productive capital and connecting this mode of local accumulation to the rise of intangible assets. Drawing on a comparison between Marxist and Veblenian perspectives on predation, the analysis builds on the characteristics of intangible assets to illuminate intellectual monopoly tendencies in value chains and assess the macroeconomic implications of the unfolding of predatory practices for capital accumulation.
