Monopoly rent arises from low competition, not production cost

Evidence

Monopoly Rent obtains due to low or non-existent competition (oligopoly or monopoly) which allows a seller to extract from consumers payment in excess of the commodity’s exchange value. — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 803

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines monopoly rent, the mechanism the book later argues platforms use to extract value.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 803
• XREF: connects to: The defining difference between rent and profit is vulnerability to market competition. — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 467; Market competition erodes profits but increases rents. — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 468; Zero marginal costs force platforms to extract rent rather than earn profit — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 999 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Splitting LOGCAP contracts among firms produced mini-monopolies, not competition. #exemplifies (0.80)
• Common ownership of competing firms suppresses competition and inflates prices #corroborates (0.78)
• Monopoly is the outcome, not the antithesis, of competition. #responds-to (0.75) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 138