CHAPTER  VIII

RENT
In  economics  the  term  “  rent  "  is  not  used
with  its  ordinary  significance.  Ordinarily
it  means  the  annual  payment  made  for  land
or  buildings.  It  therefore  stands  for  a
hiring  charge  :  but  it  is  not  applied  to  every
hiring  charge.  If  a  person  hired  a  brougham
he  would  no  more  call  the  charge  for  it  a  rent
than  he  would  call  the  rent  of  his  house  a
hiring  charge.  This  common  usage  of  the
term  “  rent  ”  has  been  determined  solely
by  convention.  Economists  began  with  it,
but  after  economic  inquiry  became  more
scientific,  and  the  causes  of  payments  began
to  be  investigated,  the  application  of
the  word  “  rent  ”  in  economics  suffered
restriction.  In  this  study,  it  was  made
to  refer  only  to  annual  or  other  periodic
payments  for  land,  apart  from  payments  for
things  produced  by  labour  and  capital  such
as  houses  and  farm  buildings.  The  split
between  common  usage  and  economic  usage
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