rent-seeking

noun
/ɹɛnt siːkɪŋ/US

Etymology

From rent (“a profit from possession of a valuable right”) + seeking.

  1. inherited from sēcð
  2. derived from *seh₂g- — “to seek out
  3. inherited from *sōkijaną — “to seek
  4. inherited from *sōkijan
  5. inherited from sēċan
  6. inherited from seken
  7. suffixed as seeking — “seek + ing
  8. compounded as rent-seeking — “rent + seeking

Definitions

  1. The attempt to profit by manipulating the economic or political environment, for example,…

    The attempt to profit by manipulating the economic or political environment, for example, by seeking governmental action that restricts entry into a market.

    • It is almost certain that ‘rent-seeking’ would be a significant factor in a capitalist economy where the government encourages cartelization or confers ‘a leading sector’ role on any sector.
  2. The effort to increase one's share of wealth without doing something productive or adding…

    The effort to increase one's share of wealth without doing something productive or adding value.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for rent-seeking. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA