When we use the term rent seeking, we're referring to behavior that is meant to increase an individual share of the existing

wealth in the world without their having contributed anything to that wealth, without expanding

it. So while it's possible to accrue wealth by inventing something and getting a patent on

that invention, thereby benefiting financially as other people utilize your invention.

That is a means of becoming wealthier, that has also made the world wealthier.

That invention of yours has increased the overall wealth of the human race by some amount.

If you were to become a patent troll, however, which is a company that is established

with the sole purpose of buying up patents and then suing other companies who are doing things

that are adjacent to or overlap with those patents, the idea being that the people that they

are suing will want to avoid a costly legal battle and will pay them a settlement

to avoid going down that rabbit hole. Well, then you've created wealth for yourself, but you have

not added to the overall wealth that exists in the world. You have extracted wealth from others

who have created it, but you have not yourself added anything of value to the economy.

Rent-seeking behavior is considered by many to be a very bad thing, at least when we are being

explicit about it. Many people would probably be happy to take money, whatever the source,

and whether or not they added anything

to the world to get it, though they might feel at least a little bad about it if the meaning

behind that acquisition was made clear to them. But this method of acquiring wealth is a drain

on the economy, and importantly, it's also a drain on those who add to, who improve the economy, arguably,

making the world a better place for most people. Rent-seeking behavior, in contrast, arguably,

makes the world a worse place for most people, because it sucks up the resources in order to

support people and business entities that don't add a thing

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