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Extracting rents from things you own is literally "rent-seeking". It's the definition of "rent-seeking". You can argue the pros and cons or rent-seeking or of

Extracting rents from things you own is literally "rent-seeking". It's the definition of "rent-seeking". You can argue the pros and cons or rent-seeking or of Airbnb, but "rent-seeking" clearly covers Airbnb.

sdhgaiojfsa 8y ago
No, that is not the definition of rent seeking. The definition of rent seeking is: "In economics and in public-choice theory, rent-seeking involves seeking to increase one's share of existing wealth without creating new wealth." An example of rent-seeking would be lobbying against the construction of new housing to inflate the value of one's own home. A non-example of rent-seeking would be renting your house out to someone else. More from Wikipedia/economics 101: "Rent-seeking is distinguished in theory from profit-seeking, in which entities seek to extract value by engaging in mutually beneficial transactions . . ." such as a transaction between a property owner and someone seeking to rent that property for temporary use.
- atom_arranger 8y ago
  There's more than one definition of the term. I do agree that the definition and examples you are using are common. "In economics and in public-choice theory, rent-seeking involves seeking to increase one's share of existing wealth without creating new wealth." - Wikipedia I would say that applies to making a profit off of property one owns by charging people to use it.
  - sdhgaiojfsa 8y ago
    All passive investing is rent seeking under that interpretation of that sentence.
    - atom_arranger 8y ago
      I would consider all passive investing rent seeking. Or at the very least a kind of rent. Just a quote from an article that sort of illustrates the attitude I have towards it: > One disturbing implication of Thomas Piketty’s new book, Capital, is that the American economy is slipping into a form of “rentier” capitalism, in which passive income from wealth, increasingly in the form of inherited fortunes, is supplanting dynamism, hard work and innovation. - https://qz.com/196575/to-get-rich-forget-entrepreneurship-and-marry-wealthy/ https://qz.com/196575/to-get-rich-forget-entrepreneurship-an... Apparently I'm not the only person with this attitude, although this poster was down-voted: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13151809 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13151809 There's also some links there. I do use passive investing, but I do consider it a kind of rent and I think society might be better off with less of it.

sdhgaiojfsa 8y ago

No, that is not the definition of rent seeking. The definition of rent seeking is: "In economics and in public-choice theory, rent-seeking involves seeking to increase one's share of existing wealth without creating new wealth." An example of rent-seeking would be lobbying against the construction of new housing to inflate the value of one's own home. A non-example of rent-seeking would be renting your house out to someone else. More from Wikipedia/economics 101: "Rent-seeking is distinguished in theory from profit-seeking, in which entities seek to extract value by engaging in mutually beneficial transactions . . ." such as a transaction between a property owner and someone seeking to rent that property for temporary use.

atom_arranger 8y ago
There's more than one definition of the term. I do agree that the definition and examples you are using are common. "In economics and in public-choice theory, rent-seeking involves seeking to increase one's share of existing wealth without creating new wealth." - Wikipedia I would say that applies to making a profit off of property one owns by charging people to use it.
- sdhgaiojfsa 8y ago
  All passive investing is rent seeking under that interpretation of that sentence.
  - atom_arranger 8y ago
    I would consider all passive investing rent seeking. Or at the very least a kind of rent. Just a quote from an article that sort of illustrates the attitude I have towards it: > One disturbing implication of Thomas Piketty’s new book, Capital, is that the American economy is slipping into a form of “rentier” capitalism, in which passive income from wealth, increasingly in the form of inherited fortunes, is supplanting dynamism, hard work and innovation. - https://qz.com/196575/to-get-rich-forget-entrepreneurship-and-marry-wealthy/ https://qz.com/196575/to-get-rich-forget-entrepreneurship-an... Apparently I'm not the only person with this attitude, although this poster was down-voted: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13151809 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13151809 There's also some links there. I do use passive investing, but I do consider it a kind of rent and I think society might be better off with less of it.