4 ms·

> Once the platform is in place, money is supposed to flow through the system without much extra effort at all. In other words, rent-seeking behavior.

qeternity 5y ago
This is not what “rent-seeking” means.
- dTal 5y ago
  It's exactly what "rent-seeking" means.
  - qeternity 5y ago
    No, it isn’t. You can downvote me all you like, but “rents” has a very specific economic meaning, and it doesn’t mean what you think it does. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_rent https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_rent
    - dTal 5y ago
      Well, if we're linking Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking "Rent-seeking is the effort to increase one's share of existing wealth without creating new wealth." In other words, money without effort.
      - qeternity 5y ago
        You really don’t get it. I linked Wiki so that you could read about what it actually is. You’ve decided to cherry pick an excerpt that you think justifies your point, while completely misunderstanding what said excerpt actually says. You’re arguing that platforms engage in rent-seeking behavior. Please point to a platform that has created wealth for itself, at the expense of others wealth (thus not creating new wealth). Spoiler: there aren’t any. Now do you get why rent-seeking doesn’t mean what you think it does? What you really mean is “platforms don’t work hard enough for the cut they take” which as I said above, is not what rent-seeming means.
        inter_netuser 5y ago
        All of them, once they get big enough. Any multinational that's not trying to siphon profits to offshore is not going to last very long. All of them siphon wealth offshore, away from where it would be rightfully taxed. Example: "In 2020, Amazon earned 44 billion euros in Europe, but reported paying no taxes in Luxembourg." From your wiki article: >"Rent-seeking results in reduced economic efficiency through misallocation of resources, reduced wealth-creation, **lost government revenue**, heightened income inequality,[2] and potential national decline." >"lost government revenue" Big Tech doesn't simply capture some tiny regulator. They capture (jointly with other multinationals) entire countries, like Ireland and Luxembourg.
        qeternity 5y ago
        No, again, this is not economic rents. Income !== wealth. And just because they pay no taxes in Europe doesn’t mean there is no net wealth creation, even in Europe. Just because rent seeking behavior can result in lost government revenue doesn’t mean that any loss of government revenue is rent seeking behavior. Tax evasion is not rent seeking. But again, we are so far off the mark of what an actual economic rent is. It’s a topic that requires reading beyond a wiki article, and please stop trying to just find language that supports your existing, misinformed conclusion.
        dTal 5y ago
        >Please point to a platform that has created wealth for itself, at the expense of others wealth (thus not creating new wealth). >platforms don’t work hard enough for the cut they take” Surely these are indeed synonymous. There's a bit of linguistic subterfuge in using "wealth" to refer to both cash and services rendered. In order to determine if a company has "created new wealth" we must indeed balance the cut they have taken with the value of services rendered. And yeah, I would argue that most "platforms" do not render value equivalent to the cut they take, and instead are exploiting some sort of monopoly position obtained through network effects. You asked me to to name some, so I would place the mobile app stores and Facebook in this category.
        5y ago
MomoXenosaga 5y ago
Well yes being a middle man and taking a percentage of each transaction is winning the lottery. You can see this happening with food delivery apps. When you become the biggest in America or Europe everyone who wants a pizza delivered has to go through your system.
- KptMarchewa 5y ago
  What I see with food delivery is what I see with ride-sharing - people price arbitrage, using many apps and choosing the cheapest.

qeternity 5y ago

This is not what “rent-seeking” means.

dTal 5y ago
It's exactly what "rent-seeking" means.
- qeternity 5y ago
  No, it isn’t. You can downvote me all you like, but “rents” has a very specific economic meaning, and it doesn’t mean what you think it does. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_rent https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_rent
  - dTal 5y ago
    Well, if we're linking Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking "Rent-seeking is the effort to increase one's share of existing wealth without creating new wealth." In other words, money without effort.
    - qeternity 5y ago
      You really don’t get it. I linked Wiki so that you could read about what it actually is. You’ve decided to cherry pick an excerpt that you think justifies your point, while completely misunderstanding what said excerpt actually says. You’re arguing that platforms engage in rent-seeking behavior. Please point to a platform that has created wealth for itself, at the expense of others wealth (thus not creating new wealth). Spoiler: there aren’t any. Now do you get why rent-seeking doesn’t mean what you think it does? What you really mean is “platforms don’t work hard enough for the cut they take” which as I said above, is not what rent-seeming means.
      - inter_netuser 5y ago
        All of them, once they get big enough. Any multinational that's not trying to siphon profits to offshore is not going to last very long. All of them siphon wealth offshore, away from where it would be rightfully taxed. Example: "In 2020, Amazon earned 44 billion euros in Europe, but reported paying no taxes in Luxembourg." From your wiki article: >"Rent-seeking results in reduced economic efficiency through misallocation of resources, reduced wealth-creation, **lost government revenue**, heightened income inequality,[2] and potential national decline." >"lost government revenue" Big Tech doesn't simply capture some tiny regulator. They capture (jointly with other multinationals) entire countries, like Ireland and Luxembourg.
        qeternity 5y ago
        No, again, this is not economic rents. Income !== wealth. And just because they pay no taxes in Europe doesn’t mean there is no net wealth creation, even in Europe. Just because rent seeking behavior can result in lost government revenue doesn’t mean that any loss of government revenue is rent seeking behavior. Tax evasion is not rent seeking. But again, we are so far off the mark of what an actual economic rent is. It’s a topic that requires reading beyond a wiki article, and please stop trying to just find language that supports your existing, misinformed conclusion.
      - dTal 5y ago
        >Please point to a platform that has created wealth for itself, at the expense of others wealth (thus not creating new wealth). >platforms don’t work hard enough for the cut they take” Surely these are indeed synonymous. There's a bit of linguistic subterfuge in using "wealth" to refer to both cash and services rendered. In order to determine if a company has "created new wealth" we must indeed balance the cut they have taken with the value of services rendered. And yeah, I would argue that most "platforms" do not render value equivalent to the cut they take, and instead are exploiting some sort of monopoly position obtained through network effects. You asked me to to name some, so I would place the mobile app stores and Facebook in this category.
        5y ago

MomoXenosaga 5y ago

Well yes being a middle man and taking a percentage of each transaction is winning the lottery. You can see this happening with food delivery apps. When you become the biggest in America or Europe everyone who wants a pizza delivered has to go through your system.

KptMarchewa 5y ago
What I see with food delivery is what I see with ride-sharing - people price arbitrage, using many apps and choosing the cheapest.