"David Ricardo [1772-1823] introduced the term 'rent' in economics. It means the payment to a factor of production in excess of what is required to keep that fa

"David Ricardo [1772-1823] introduced the term 'rent' in economics. It means the payment to a factor of production in excess of what is required to keep that factor in its present use." After additional economic theory development, "People are said to seek rents when they try to obtain benefits for themselves through the political arena." "But why do economists use the term “rent” [for a market benefit that is being sought outside the market mechanism]? Unfortunately, there is no good reason." [all] https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/RentSeeking.html https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/RentSeeking.html Once those two terms are understandably conflated, and a commenter showed you their example of inheriting the right to some rental real estate, the terminological clarity in the discussion is more or less gone.