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> And, if they do this, how are they generally speaking so successful? They have almost complete monopoly on online search, web ads, online video, on phone OS,
by glogla 6y ago
> And, if they do this, how are they generally speaking so successful?
They have almost complete monopoly on online search, web ads, online video, on phone OS, on browsers. And they are not afraid to abuse those to get more, and are getting away with this.
You don't need to do anything right when you rent-seek most of the online world.
- perl4ever 6y agoHow is this rent seeking and not just profit seeking? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking
- dragonwriter 6y agoProfit-seeking with market power is rent-seeking.
- perl4ever 6y agoI think it's very destructive of meaningful discussion to redefine a term of jargon in order to exploit the stigma of the original definition while talking about something else.
- dragonwriter 6y agoNo, if you have market/pricing (empirical monopoly) power, profit-maximizing behavior is inherently rent-seeking by the standard definition.
- CamperBob2 6y agoIn real estate, the value of a property is often tied to the value of the rental income it could bring in, even if it's never been offered for rent. 'Rent seeking' doesn't refer to the same kind of 'rent', of course, but I think the analogy holds up pretty well. All Google has to do is turn a few screws, and the rest of us will have no choice but to sing whatever tune they call.
- manigandham 6y agoBecause they can raise the rents anytime and everyone else just has to pay. See Google Maps pricing fiasco for a rather public example.