This article is linked to my previous post; Economic Rent: Reason why Musicians earn more money than Graduates and higher degree holders. But before proceeding, we should understand that Economic rent cannot necessarily be described as 'profit' because while profit comes with effort, Economic rent comes with little or no effort. We gave examples with
musicians, who could charge a very huge amount just to attend a show. In most of these shows, hardly do they perform with a new song, the performing artiste will come on stage, sing a song you probably must have heard several times, do a little jumping around on stage and they are paid their money; their talent and identities are peculiar to them and so they cannot be replaced. Another example of Economic rent through talent is that of comedians and also professional dancers.
In the aspect of Economic rent by nature, another example is the case of land where mineral resources are found. For instance, if a person owns a land where crude oil is found and the government buys the land, the owner will be paid an amount called Royalty( this can be paid all at once, monthly or annually), the owner of such land where this crude oil is found earns hugely even without working for it and just like I mentioned earlier; little or no effort.Now over to Patents.
Patent can be a source of Economic rent. Some call it patent right, it still means the same thing. A patent can be termed as a government authority or license conferring a right or title for a
set period, especially the sole right to exclude others from making,
using, or selling an invention. In a more simple term, it is a document drawn up by the law which states that a person solely has the right to work, produce and sell a new idea for a specified period of time. For example, if I have the idea of producing a flying car, then I can draw up a patent which could state that no other company except mine should produce a flying car for a period of 10years. In other to draw up this form of patent, I must first produce an evidence showing that I can produce a flying car before it can be approved. Once the patent has been granted, automatically there is no competition against my product, I earn hugely, covering cost, earning profit and Economic rent at large. This is the reason why phones like Apple, Samsung, Blackberry, Nokia sell at a higher price than Tecno, Injoo, Xtouch. And yeah.... there's another; Economic Rent through trade unions. Stay posted.
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