rent-seeking

In many market-oriented economies, government restrictions upon economic activity are pervasive facts of life. These restrictions give rise to rents of a variety of forms, and people often compete for the rents. Sometimes, such competition is perfectly legal. In other instances, rent seeking takes other forms, such as bribery, corruption, smuggling, and black markets.

Ultimately, at the very end of the spectrum rent-seeking takes place in private social life, even though a delimitation critically depends on the society's 'subjective' definition of property rights and duties. It makes sense to define people begging on the street and knocking on doors as rent-seekers, in particular if they have opportunities to work.