Re: pen-l masochism revisited

["David S. Shemano" <dshemano@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Title: pen-l masochism revisited

Jim Devine writes:

<<I would define "rent seeking" as involving individual seeking of special advantages in competition, in order to get a larger share of the profit pie. This does NOT just involve lobbying, contrary to the Chicago/Virginia school of economics. For example, my grocery store (Safeway) gave me a special card that, when I use it, automatically gives me a discount on some products. This is an effort to bind me to the company -- since I can't use the card at other stores -- to seek special competitive advantages. This is pretty harmless, but there are lots of other examples. >>

This encapsulates the exact problem I am trying to address.  You acknowledge that there exists a recognizable behavior of lobbying to obtain profits, and you acknowledge that there exists a separate recognizable behavior of issuing coupons intended to obtain profits  You and I agree that both behaviors can be characterized as attempts to obtain profits.  However, you want to also call both behaviors "rent-seeking."  Fine, call issuing coupons "rent-seeking" if you want.  But what name do you want to give lobbying to obtain profits to distinguish it from issuing coupons to obtain profits?

David Shemano