What dumbass told you that? Sad you believed them.
That dumbass was Adam Smith, who also said this, on the topic of increasing wages.
“Our merchants and masters complain much of the bad effects of high wages in raising the price and lessening the sale of goods. They say nothing concerning the bad effects of high profits. They are silent with regard to the pernicious effects of their own gains. They complain only of those of other people.”
Besides, who are you kidding. You don't even know what Economic Rent is.
Businesses are in business to make profits for the owners. If the workers don't like the wages, go elsewhere or start their own business. I've told those that work for me more than once, if you don't like the wages you have two options. Work for someone else or get back to work since I'm paying you.
Like I thought. You don't understand what economic rent is. But let's go with what we got.
Let's suppose you work in a fast food joint in a rural area of Mississippi. You make minimum wage. You are the best damn fry guy in North America. But if you go down the street, to the only other place in town, and ask for a job you know what they are going to pay you, minimum wage.
You are worth much more. Based on productivity, why you are worth fifty dollars an hour at least. And people come from miles around to buy the fries you fry. Now, you could get another job doing something else. You do have skills. But none of them would pay fifty dollars an hour, nor would you produce fifty dollars an hour worth of value. Truth is, with you productivity, were you working in a market where there was real competition for labor, you would be making at least fifteen dollars an hour.
In this case, the difference between what you are currently being paid, the minimum wage, and what you would be paid in a market that is more "free", the fifteen dollars, is economic rent collected by the business owner. It is, what Adam Smith would describe as pernicious, a fancy ass word for, "harmful".
