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I'm not sure we disagree here - rent seeking indirectly by the mechanism you describe between police and drug trafficking is still rent seeking behaviour!

You don't need a formal agreement or specific legislation to establish a rent-seeking economy, nor is economic patronage necessary. A black market is not somehow separate to rent-seeking business.

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I don't really understand your point. In my understanding, for silk road to be rent-seeking it would have be actively working to keep drugs illegal, thus maintaining their profits. I have seen no evidence this is the case.

I'm also unsure why you think SR "creates no value"? It creates value in the same way eBay does.

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