Market competition erodes profits but increases rents.

Evidence

When Sony invented the Walkman, the first mobile and personal hi-fi, it raked in substantial profits. Then competition from imitators whittled Sony’s profits away until, eventually, Apple rode in with its iPod to dominate the market. In contrast, market competition is the rentier’s friend. If Jack owns a building in a neighbourhood that is being gentrified as a result of what others do, Jack’s rents will increase even if he does nothing – he, literally, gets wealthier in his sleep. — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 468

Categorization

• CANDY: The ‘wealthier in his sleep’ Jack-gentrification example is a vivid, tweetable illustration of rent’s immunity to competition.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 468
• XREF: connects to: Rent has replaced profit as the driving force of the economy. — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 504; The defining difference between rent and profit is vulnerability to market competition. — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 467; Mega-rentiers disguise their rents as profits, a practice akin to profit-washing. — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 471 (+9 more)

Broader Connections

• Monopoly rent arises from low competition, not production cost #expands (0.85) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 803
• Competitive attention markets degrade quality while profits shrink. #exemplifies (0.85) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1078
• Competitive equilibrium can exacerbate inequality even while total surplus grows. #complicates (0.85) — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 371
• Heightened competition redistributed income upward despite energizing growth #complicates (0.80) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 1046
• Monopolies express competition rather than contradict it #qualifies (0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 138
• Zero marginal costs force platforms to extract rent rather than earn profit #expands (0.80) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 999
• Employer competition drives wages toward labour’s exchange value while monopsony allows rent extraction. #expands (0.80) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 798
• Sold output yields more money than inputs, becoming wages and rents #expands (0.70) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 811