# rent (income)

Income from holding a parameter at a wall rather than from doing work. A change that removes a factory reduces output; a change that removes a toll does not.

- Computed level: L18 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: economics  ·  Arena: Emergence

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [parameter](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-parameter.condition), [wall](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-wall.range-end), [drift](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-drift.aimless), [maintenance](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-maintenance.upkeep), [window](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-window.range), [change](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-change.process), [doing](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-doing.activity), [hold](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-hold.physical), [income](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-income.financial), [rather](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-rather.comparative), [work](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-work.effort)

**Through:** The components together allow sustained extraction of income from the mere maintenance of a parameter at a boundary condition, without productive effort.

**Novel properties:**
- unearned income
- persistent extraction without labor
- value from constraint maintenance

## Examples
- The 2020 U.S. federal spectrum auction yielded $20.7 billion from telecoms leasing bandwidth from the government. *(economics)*
- The Hoover Dam generates power from water pressure held back by its 726-foot-high wall, not from active pumping. *(engineering)*
- In 2019, Venezuela’s hyperinflation rendered rent controls nominal, as landlords held apartments off-market in Caracas. *(institutions)*

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-rent.income*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-rent.income.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*