Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

rentes (des grandes entreprises/institutions)

English translation:

economic rent

Added to glossary by Diana Huet de Guerville
Nov 18, 2016 12:58
7 yrs ago
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French term

rentes (des grandes entreprises/institutions)

French to English Social Sciences Economics
Hello,

I'm translating an academic paper on the collaborative economy, and I'm stuck on the term "rentes" in a section on cyberculture.

Here are a few excerpts to give some context (the term appears three times):

"Selon Fred Turner (2008), le développement d’internet a été marqué par la contre-culture hippie apparue dans les années 60 aux Etats-Unis, dont les idéologies –d’abord libertaires et communautaires puis libertariennes- se retrouvent dans le développement des nouvelles technologies du web et plus largement de la Silicon Valley. Turner illustre ces évolutions et hybridations à travers l’histoire de Stewart Brand, ancien hippie, militant environnementaliste, journaliste, homme d’affaires et aujourd’hui figure de pointe de la Silicon Valley. Dans son analyse, Turner décrit l’émergence d’un monde qui refuse les formes de régulation et **les rentes** des grandes entreprises bureaucratiques, symbolisées dans les années 70 par IBM. On assiste alors à un renouveau de la pensée libertarienne qui s’appuie sur la liberté d’action de l’individu dans un marché libre, dérégulé, débarrassé des monopoles et de l’intervention de l’Etat."

and "Les entrepreneurs de l’économie collaborative empruntent à l’idéologie de la contre-culture américaine une volonté de changer le monde et de casser les **rentes** des grandes institutions établies (Etats et grandes entreprises). Cette perspective est caractéristique d’initiatives explicitement disruptives telles qu’Uber (dont le fondateur Travis Kalanick se revendique explicitement de la philosophie libertarienne d’Ayn Rand) ou Airbnb, mettant en avant une vision entrepreneuriale et libérale, n’hésitant pas à prendre à revers les régulations nationales ou à s’attaquer à des positions qu’elles considèrent comme des monopoles de **rente**.

Any ideas? Given the context I'm not sure that any of the standard glossary terms apply. I've already spent so much time looking into this that I can't think straight anymore!

Thanks in advance.

Proposed translations

+1
1 hr
Selected

monopoly rents

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_rent

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Note added at 1 hr (2016-11-18 14:16:13 GMT)
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Definition: Monopoly rents are (supernormal) profits earned that result from the monopolist restricting supply to raise price without fear of entry by rivals. They are distinct from Ricardian (scarcity) rents and from Schumpeterian (innovation) rents. Empirically, RENT for monopoly conduct (raising prices, restructuring output) are hard to distinguish from other sources of rents.
Note from asker:
Thanks I came across this one but wasn't sure if it applied or not.
Peer comment(s):

agree philgoddard
55 mins
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "I ended up using economic rent and monopoly rent, and all the answers were helpful, it's hard to have to give the points to only one person! "
3 hrs

superprofits

Superprofits is the Marxist economics equivalent of what neo-liberals prefer to call "economic rent". I think it's a more appropriate term than the latter, because it implies disapproval.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=0198725353
Thomas Pogge, ‎Krishen Mehta - 2016 - ‎Distributive justice
"Economic rent, or super-profits, therefore naturally belong to the owners of the resource, the people. As operators, the companies should be entitled to a “cost-plus” arrangement where they are rewarded for their expertise and capital but not deemed to be owners of the resource."




Note from asker:
Thanks for this suggestion, I like it though I ended up going with the more neutral "economic rent".
Something went wrong...
7 hrs

rent seeking behaviour (of big corporations)

the point made is against the tendency of big corporations to ignore real needs of people and instead try anything to lock them in long term dependency on their offering i.e. create a "rent" for themselves.

Peddling nicotine based products is the most blatant case, but far from being the only one.

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Note added at 8 hrs (2016-11-18 21:16:11 GMT)
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Dans son analyse, Turner décrit l’émergence d’un monde qui refuse les formes de régulation et les rentes des grandes entreprises bureaucratiques, symbolisées dans les années 70 par IBM.
=>
.... that rejects ... the rent seeking behaviour of bureaucratised big corporations

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Note added at 8 hrs (2016-11-18 21:19:49 GMT)
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one example of rent seeking behaviour: instead of selling individual software licences with no time limits attached, the current fashion in to sell again and again licences valid for only one year, thus creating a "rent" instead of a on-off income.

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Note added at 8 hrs (2016-11-18 21:21:55 GMT)
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.. instead of a one-off income.

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Note added at 8 hrs (2016-11-18 21:24:35 GMT)
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the kind of behaviour of someone happy to keep selling you electricity at inflated prices, but would never accept to sell you a generator.
Note from asker:
Thanks for the explanation, very helpful.
Something went wrong...

Reference comments

12 mins
Reference:

economic rent

Note from asker:
Thanks I read that entry too but wasn't sure if it applied here or not.
Peer comments on this reference comment:

agree writeaway
1 hr
agree nweatherdon
4 hrs
Something went wrong...
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