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| Science Forum Index » Economy Forum » A defense of rent-seeking |
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| sinister |
 Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 9:02 am |
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"There are opportunity costs to gaining the education required to become a
doctor or a lawyer. It requires time, money, and forgone income
opportunities while spending that time and money. As with any investment,
the future is uncertain, but is made with an expectation of future returns
given current knowledge. You imply that it is wrong to protect such an
investment, which is a moral judgment on your behalf, and with which I
disagree."
At
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/angrybear/113114995626824355 |
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| Guest |
| Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 12:30 am |
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On Tue, 8 Nov 2005 09:02:33 -0500, "sinister"
<sinister@nospam.invalid> wrote:
[quote:cce75d26c7]"There are opportunity costs to gaining the education required to become a
doctor or a lawyer. It requires time, money, and forgone income
opportunities while spending that time and money. As with any investment,
the future is uncertain, but is made with an expectation of future returns
given current knowledge. You imply that it is wrong to protect such an
investment, which is a moral judgment on your behalf, and with which I
disagree."
[/quote:cce75d26c7]
ROTFL!! Let me guess, this guy is always on about "free" markets...
Everybody would like government to make their investments profitable
for them. But it's astonishing to me how those who demand the "right"
to keep any profits their "investments" yield are also the very ones
who demand that government violate _others'_ rights in order to ensure
that those profits occur.
It's a funny kind of free market where those whose wages are driven to
subsistence level by foreign competition in the name of free trade
must pay government-enforced monopoly rents for the services they
require if they are to exercise their alleged "rights" to life,
liberty and pursuit of happiness.
-- Roy L |
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| Michael Scheltgen |
| Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 1:27 am |
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royls@telus.net wrote:
[quote:b970f6f4d8]
It's a funny kind of free market where those whose wages are driven to
subsistence level by foreign competition in the name of free trade
must pay government-enforced monopoly rents for the services they
require if they are to exercise their alleged "rights" to life,
liberty and pursuit of happiness.
[/quote:b970f6f4d8]
You didn't just hit the nail on the head, you dropped a
thermonuclear bomb on it  Very very well said, Roy. |
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| ruetheday@outgun.com |
| Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 9:21 am |
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Guest
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[quote:8a4653ca3a]"There are opportunity costs to gaining the education required to become a
doctor or a lawyer. It requires time, money, and forgone income
opportunities while spending that time and money. As with any investment,
the future is uncertain, but is made with an expectation of future returns
given current knowledge. You imply that it is wrong to protect such an
investment, which is a moral judgment on your behalf, and with which I
disagree."
[/quote:8a4653ca3a]
A few points:
The author of this is clearly using the neoclassical definition of rent
rather than the classical definition, however, the existence of rents
in the neoclassical sense doesn't necessarily imply the existence of
rent-seeking behavior, which has a much narrower definition.
The opportunity costs mentioned in the excerpt (the process of getting
an education) differ from the opportunity costs used in the
neoclassical definition of economic rent. The neoclassical definition
looks at the opportunity cost of employing that resource in its next
most valuable use at an instant in time, presumably after the education
has been obtained.
The only real economic rent in this example derives from the explicit
entry barriers imposed by the government on the legal and medical
professions.
The author appears to be attempting to conflate the portion of the
wages that is due to the knowledge, skills, and experience obtained by
the doctor or lawyer with the portion that is due to the entry barrier
mentioned above. |
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| Guest |
| Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 9:55 am |
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On 9 Nov 2005 06:21:44 -0800, "ruetheday@outgun.com"
<ruetheday@outgun.com> wrote:
[quote:29a29fbe5f]The author appears to be attempting to conflate the portion of the
wages that is due to the knowledge, skills, and experience obtained by
the doctor or lawyer with the portion that is due to the entry barrier
mentioned above.
[/quote:29a29fbe5f]
Or perhaps claiming that without the latter, the former would be
insufficient, in a free market, to stimulate the necessary
investments.
Funny how free markets need government's "help" to adequately
encourage investment, but not to adequately encourage labor...
-- Roy L |
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