[reb]

That makes sense, especially when it comes to production. I'm curious how the distinction you noted applies to non-physical services? Many services seem to qualify as rent-seeking: you pay a one-time fee to obtain information or a connection others will need and the costs to maintain this information are usually minimal. I assumed selling access to that information would qualify as a form of rent-seeking since information retrieval is incredibly low-cost for whoever owns that information. And it seems like competition, even hypothetically, would never drive such services down toward cost without eradicating the industry entirely. So all info-centric services are built on economic rent. Am I off the mark?

Edited to add: The more I think about it, the more it seems all business is really about rent on information: profits are extracted by discovering a cost-effective source and repackaging that information at a higher price to an ignorant market. Innovation as a source of profit seems like rent-seeking on initially exclusive knowledge. Even production is a cascade of information bundled with profit margin and sold to the next party who lacks access you have. The physical product is only the end-game of that information chain. The profit all comes from privileged information, ie charging for something that, once obtained, costs nothing to continue profiting from. Which is economic rent, no? I feel like I must be missing something.

Edited once again: Looked into normal profit, which reframes my question slightly: is the phrase "economic rent" used to describe an objective behavior or a behavior relative to the local market (where average profits and opportunity costs vary)?