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Prepared By: Prof. Rachna Mujoo, Applied Economics, , For the Students of B.Com. IInd semester, , THEORY OF RENT, THEORY OF RENTRICARDIAN, David Ricardo, a classical economist developed a theory in 1817 to explain the, origin and nature of economic rent. Rent is the payment made to landlord for the, use of land. Ricardo was of the view that rent is paid for the fertility of land., Ricardo stated “Rent is the portion of the produce of the earth which is paid to, landlord for the use of the original and indestructible powers of the soil, ASSUMPTIONS1. Rent of land arises due to the differences in the fertility of the soil., 2. Law of diminishing marginal returns. As the different plots of land differ in, fertility, the produce from the inferior plots of land diminishes though the total cost, of production in each plot of land is the same., 3. Rent accrues only to land i.e. none of the other factors of production earn rent., However later on Modern economists disagreed on it., 4. There is tendency to move from most fertile land to the less fertile one., 5. Land on which no rent is earned is known as marginal land., 6. Total cost spent on each piece of land is same., According to Ricardo rent arises as the difference between production of Marginal, land (On which zero rent accrues) and superior land. As there is general tendency, to move from most fertile land (Attracts highest rent) to the less fertile land, a point, comes where no rent accrues to what is called a Marginal land. So in this way, Ricardo classified land into various grades according to their fertility. The most, fertile land will attract highest rent and Marginal land will attract no rent indicating, the land to be the infertile one.

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Prepared By: Prof. Rachna Mujoo, Applied Economics, , EXAMPLE, There are 6 grades of land – I, II, III, IV, V, VI. The classification is on the basis of, fertility. A is most fertile. The fertility of soil is known by its production. Most, fertile soil will have more production and consequently more value of output. So, the column of value of output is indicator of fertility of the soil. As mentioned in, assumption total cost remains same. Say here total cost = 1000., RENT EARNED, GRADES AMOUNT, VALUE, OF RENT (, OF LAND SPENT, (cost) OUTPUT (Rs.), OUTPUT(Rs.), SPENT, , VALUE OF, AMOUNT, , I, , 1000, , 5000, , 5000-1000=4000, , II, , 1000, , 4000, , 4000-1000=3000, , III, , 1000, , 3000, , 3000-1000=2000, , IV, , 1000, , 2000, , 2000-1000=1000, , V, , 1000, , 1000, , 1000-1000=0, , VI, , 1000, , NIL, , -, , As can be seen that Grade I is the most superior land producing maximum output, of 5000 on which Rent earned is 4000. Similarly Grade II land earns 3000 and so, on. This shows direct relation between the value of output and rent earned thereof, keeping the amount spent on land same on every piece of land . On Grade V land, Amount spend = Value of output i.e. Total rent is 0. This is Marginal land. Grade, VI land will never be cultivated as the Value of Output is NIL., Highest Rent = On Grade I land i.e. Most superior piece of land, Marginal land = Grade V land where Amount spend and Value of Output is Equal, i.e. ZERO RENT

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Prepared By: Prof. Rachna Mujoo, Applied Economics, , Land left uncultivated = Grade VI land as the value of output is nil and Amount, spent is 1000 so it is irrational to cultivate it.

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Prepared By: Prof. Rachna Mujoo, Applied Economics, , 6000, 5000, 4000, 3000, VALUE OF PRODUCE, 2000, 1000, 0, I, , II, , III, , IV, , V, , VI, , Most Fertile land = I Grade land, Grade VI = Infertile, , RENT, 4500, 4000, 3500, 3000, 2500, RENT, , 2000, 1500, 1000, 500, 0, I, , II, , III, , IV, , Grade V Land = MARGINAL LAND = Rent = 0, Grade VI land will not cultivated, , V, , VI

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Prepared By: Prof. Rachna Mujoo, Applied Economics, , Ricardo further said that arising of rent is not static but dynamic i.e. it can change, according to time and circumstances. Say in above example if the value of output, changes then Marginal land, Rent etc. will change, , GRADES AMOUNT, VALUE, OF RENT (, OF LAND SPENT, (cost) OUTPUT (Rs.), OUTPUT(Rs.), SPENT, , VALUE OF, AMOUNT, , I, , 1000, , 6000, , 6000-1000=5000, , II, , 1000, , 5000, , 5000-1000=4000, , III, , 1000, , 4000, , 4000-1000=3000, , IV, , 1000, , 3000, , 3000-1000=2000, , V, , 1000, , 2000, , 2000-1000=1000, , VI, , 1000, , 1000, , 1000-1000=0, , As can be seen now Grade VI land is Marginal land as now in this land no rent is, accruing., Ricardo said that “Corn is high not because rent is high but rent is high because, corn is high”. He changed popular belief that rent does not affect the price of, product but is affected by it. If price remains high, cost will also remain high, resulting in high residual income and increase in price., However Ricardian theory of rent was criticized on many grounds. Some, economists believe that Ricardo had taken some unrealistic assumptions. They, questioned why to use most fertile land first, and not the less fertile land., Moreover Modern economists believe that rent can also accrue on other factors of, production and it arises due to scarcity of a factor rather than its fertility. Also the, cost is different on different plots whereas Ricardo assumed it to be the same.

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Prepared By: Prof. Rachna Mujoo, Applied Economics, , MODERN THEORY OF RENT, Economists like Alfred Marshall, Joan Robinson criticized Ricardian theory of, Rent and put forward a new approach. They believed that rent does not arise due to, fertility of the land rather it arises due to Scarcity of a factor. Although land is free, gift of nature but it is not free for a firm or enterprise. They have to pay for its, usage and the price is decided by the scarcity i.e. more scare the factor more price, for it. So the availability of the factor affects its price. Here the concept of, opportunity cost comes in play. Opportunity cost is the value of next best available, alternative .A Factor needs to be paid minimum amount equal to its opportunity, cost. Remember it is the minimum amount i.e. the lowest limit, actual amount may, be much higher., The actual amount to be paid depends on the scarcity and availability of that factor., If the factor is scare i.e. less available then the buyer has to pay more amount, (Price) for that factor than its opportunity cost. This extra payment is nothing but, Rent which depends on scarcity of a factor. Similarly for less scare factor buyer, may pay an amount equal or slightly higher than its opportunity cost., So rent is the extra payment over the opportunity cost (Minimum cost which, has to be incurred). The scare factor attracts more rent as the difference in the, opportunity cost and actual rent paid is more., Ricardo in his theory assumed that rent arises only on land but the advocates of, Modern theory of rent believed that rent can arise on any factor of production., EXPANATION WITH THE HELP OF EXAMPLE, Suppose an IT professional is working in firm A for a monthly package of Rs.one, lakh. With the growing IT sector, the demand for IT professionals will increase., Now firm B offers him a monthly package of Rs. two lakh and he accepts the, same., Opportunity cost in above example = 1,00,000, Actual earning of factor = 2,00,000

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Prepared By: Prof. Rachna Mujoo, Applied Economics, , Rent= Actual earning- Opportunity cost i.e. 200000-100000=100000, The rent of one lakh is result of scarcity of IT professionals i.e. demand of IT, professionals are more than its supply as a result their price increases., The scarcity of factor can be shown with the help of its Supply curve. If the factor, is highly scare its supply curve will be vertical to the X axis or perfectly inelastic, showing zero opportunity cost and whole amount as rent. On the other hand if the, factor is not scare at all supply curve will be horizontal to the X axis or perfectly, elastic one showing that the opportunity cost is equal to actual amount and hence, Zero rent. So the shape of supply curve is the indicator of scarcity of the factor., , The above diagram shows the situation of no Rent. As you can see the supply cure, is perfectly elastic indicating that the factor is not scare at all. Here the opportunity, cost is same as the actual amount spent i.e. the minimum amount of opportunity, cost is equal to the actual earning of the factor.

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Prepared By: Prof. Rachna Mujoo, Applied Economics, , The above diagram shows the case of completely scare factor in which the whole, earning is the amount of rent. Here the opportunity cost is zero and supply curve is, perfectly inelastic. So whatever the demand for the factor determine its price and, the whole amount represents the rent which is OPSE in the above diagram., , The above diagram shows that point E’ is the point of intersection of demand and, supply curve on which K price is decided. OSE’K6 is the opportunity cost. On the, other hand OKE’K6 is the actual amount spend. KSE’ represents the amount of rent, which is due to the scarcity of factor.

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Prepared By: Prof. Rachna Mujoo, Applied Economics, , QUASI RENT, The concept of Quasi Rent was given by Alfred Marshall. He defined quasi rent as, the rent like income which arises due to fixed supply of a factor. It may arise on, plant and machinery, building etc. The reason behind the income of quasi rent is, fixed supply of the factor. However it is mainly a short run phenomenon and, disappears as the supply becomes flexible in the long run., Although he mentioned rent arises due to fixed supply of land. Similarly if man, made things starts earning extra income due to its fixed supply it is known as, Quasi Rent. Now the question arises how the plant and machinery start earning, more. As the supply is fixed any rise in demand will not be accompanied by, increase in supply as it is fixed, the only outcome will be the rise in price. So the, same machinery will earn more income due to fixed supply. If supply would not be, fixed then price won’t rise and no extra income could be earned., , The above diagram shows that supply curve SS is perfectly inelastic showing that, it can be increased in the short run. If demand increases and demand curve rises, from DD to D’D’ then the extra earning due to fixed supply curve i.e. PEP*E* is, the amount of quasi rent as it arises due to inelastic or fixed supply curve.