rent-seeking

American  

[rent-see-king] / ˈrɛntˌsi kɪŋ /

Or rent seeking

noun

Economics.

1. the act or process of using one’s assets and resources to increase one’s share of existing wealth without creating new wealth.

2. (specifically) the act or process of exploiting the political process or manipulating the economic environment to increase one’s revenue or profits.

   Rent-seeking by lobbyists succeeded in obtaining favorable tariff treatment for the company’s exports.

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Other Word Forms

• rent-seeker noun

Etymology

Origin of rent-seeking

First recorded in 1970–75; (economic) rent + seeking

Example Sentences

Lilly’s price cuts won’t do anything to address the fundamental dysfunction of America’s drug-pricing system, which bristles with rent-seeking entities — not just drug manufacturers, but pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, middlemen who offer to negotiate lower prices on behalf of health insurers by extracting rebates but keep a share of the purported savings for themselves.

From Los Angeles Times

Bolsonaro’s stance is likely to place him in opposition to the so-called centrao, an ideologically flexible bloc of rent-seeking lawmakers whose congressional support has been crucial to staving off the dozens of impeachment proceedings the president faces.

From Reuters

But then again maybe Apple already covered those costs by selling iPhones, so the Apple Tax is egregiously high — or, if you prefer a different metaphor with legal overtones, maybe it’s rent-seeking.

From The Verge

“The U.S. campaign in Afghanistan has been notoriously poor at getting good information and being played by rent-seeking actors, the cost of which is borne by innocent civilians in raids and strikes gone wrong,” said Mir.

From Seattle Times

A government investment to counteract this sort of rent-seeking by private enterprise is desperately needed.

From Los Angeles Times