Comment by mapontosevenths
3 days ago
Ok. I'll bite. Why is the thing thats literallly the basis for the term rent seeking not rent seeking?
3 days ago
Ok. I'll bite. Why is the thing thats literallly the basis for the term rent seeking not rent seeking?
Because:
> Rent-seeking is the act of growing one's existing wealth by manipulating public policy or economic conditions without creating new wealth. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking)
Given that renting out property you own doesn't meet this definition it can categorically not be called rent seeking. I'm always shocked that people apply this definition exclusively to property rentals, and not VHS rentals, without seeing the hypocrisy.
Wild. It seems to be a very common misunderstanding too.
Googling it after reading Wikipedia shows that about half the sites out there talking about it are also using it wrongly.
Thanks for explaining!
Massive credit for genuinely changing position in the face of evidence; this is rare and deserves lauding.
I fail to understand how your quote doesn't describe land lords? It is: 1. An act of growing one's own wealth (no other purpose to land lording) 2. It is accomplished by taking advantage of economic conditions (perhaps not "manipulating") 3. Does not create any new wealth.
And a little further down is this: > Rent-seeking implies the extraction of uncompensated value from others without making any contribution to productivity.
Which to me certainly sounds like someone who's only contribution is ownership.
Aren’t you exploiting the economic condition that housing supply is extremely low, and a lot of them vote to keep supply low and prevent new builds? I’m not trying to be facetious but I find it hard to believe that landlords don’t exploit economic conditions.
Most landlords are normies that happen to own one or two extra homes. How could these people meaningfully "exploit economic conditions"?
3 replies →
That's too broad of a concept to be useful. If you applied it like that then quitting a job would be rent seeking for the same reason
There’s no hypocrisy, of course. VHS tapes are not factors of production, which is the universe of discourse here.
What? Of course they are. They just produce entertainment instead of housing-days.
I think we're at the bottom of the discussion here. You've got your opinions but each time you've been pressed you don't really have a justification that stands up.
2 replies →
"Rent" has a few specific meanings in economics, but charging a tenant rent isn't necessarily economic rent. The economic rent is more like the difference between your actual monthly rent and some hypothetical idealized market-clearing monthly rent.
That's not the basis for the term.