Book III, Chapter 2 Rent and the Law of Rent The term rent, in
its economic sense—that is, when used, as I am using it, to
distinguish that part of the produce which accrues to the owners
of land or other natural capabilities by virtue of their
ownership—differs in meaning from the word rent as commonly
used. In some respects this economic meaning is narrower than
the common meaning; in other respects it is wider. It is
narrower in this: In common speech, we apply the word rent to
payments for the use of buildings, machinery, fixtures, etc., as
well as to payments for the use of land or other natural
capabilities; and in speaking of the rent of a house or the rent
of a farm, we do not separate the price for the use of the
improvements from the price for the use of the bare land. But in
the economic meaning of rent, payments for the use of any of the
products of human exertion are excluded, and of the lumped
payments for the use of houses, farms, etc., only that part is
rent which constitutes the consideration