Rent Seeking: Some Conceptual Problems and Implications

There is an implicit assumption in the literature that rent-seeking behavior can be objectively identified and that waste due to rent seeking can, at least in principle, be measured. The problem of identifying rent-seeking activity under real world conditions is shown in this article to be similar to that of determining monopoly waste and other market inefficiencies. It follows that rent-seeking waste can only be identified by substituting the observer’s own standard of value.