• ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works
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    10 months ago

    Did you read the article that you’re linking to? Rent seeking in the economic sense does not mean purchasing property in order to rent it out to tenants.

    • VikingHippie@lemmy.wtf
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      10 months ago

      Rent seeking in the economic sense does not ONLY mean purchasing property in order to rent it out to tenants.

      Fixed it for you. Landlording is one of many forms of “growing one’s existing wealth without creating new wealth”

      • CherenkovBlue@iusearchlinux.fyi
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        10 months ago

        Oh ffs, being a private landlord owning a few houses for rent is not a risk-free endeavor and not purely parasitic. You typically have to fix up the properties first (an investment), do work to vet renters, manage the property (maintenance effort/time/cost), and absorb the risk of bad renters destroying the interior. The landlord has to invest their own time and money to provide a livable shelter to others, who exchange money for not having to deal with all the above listed. That livable shelter is a big freaking deal, or why else would someone choose to spend money on it?

        Companies developing monopolies on rental markets is a very different scenario, and I don’t think it should be legal. Small private landlords? Yes.

      • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works
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        10 months ago

        Renting out property does create wealth. Think of a house as a factory that produces shelter. Running the factory, as opposed to leaving it idle, increases the amount of shelter in the world, and shelter is a form of wealth.

          • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works
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            10 months ago

            That’s a well-established economic theory and I’m not contradicting it. What I’m saying is that renting out the house after it’s built continues to create wealth. A world in which I build a nice house but keep it empty is wealthier than a world in which I leave the land unimproved, but a world where I rent that house out (or live in it myself) is wealthier still. The experience of living in that house, as opposed to some inferior option, has value.