Monopoly Rent

a special form of land rent in a capitalist economy; it occurs in connection with the sale of goods at monopoly prices in excess of their value.

In agriculture, monopoly rent is derived from lands on which uncommon crops, such as particular varieties of grapes, are cultivated; in extractive industry, such rents are related to the mining of rare metals. Because of the limited amount of land specially suited to the production of rare commodities and because of the high demand for the products, it becomes possible to market such products at prices above their real value for a more or less prolonged period. In all such cases, the capitalists renting such land must make very high payments to the land-owners; the basis of the payments emerges as monopoly rent. These rental payments take the form of additional income for the landowner. Thus monopoly rent represents that portion of the surplus value produced by wage labor that is appropriated by the landowner through the redistribution of such surplus value.