ShmoopTube

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Here's your Shmoop du jour brought to you by rentiers the classiest [Real estate agent talking to clients]

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sounding of all apartment renters. Which of the following countries is considered

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to be a rentier state? And here are the potential answers, alright yeah France isn't

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one of them. All right so we need to figure out what this rentier business is

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and it is a business. Well the word rentier looks a whole lot like the word [Man looking for the word rentier in a book]

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renter which is actually a great way of looking at it. In a way the two are

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similar but rent can be a funny word kinda like borrow if we say can I borrow [Teacher delivering a lesson]

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some gum we really mean can I have some gum with no give backsies. We may not

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mean exactly what we say but we still get the point across there right? [Baby crying gets his bottle]

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Now let's think of a rentier state as a landlord of sorts, imagine renting a place

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in the biggest little sota state in the world Minnesota. Chances are good that the [Minnesota has a sign put in it]

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landlord is doing business with an out-of-state renter well let's really

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use our imaginations and say that people from all over the country come to rent [Cars driving from across the U.S. into Minnesota]

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in Minnesota because it's the next big apple. The landlord in this example is

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heavily relying on people from foreign or external clients, a rentier state

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generates most of its government revenue by renting the use of its natural

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resources to foreign nations or companies. Keep in mind its government [Rentier government selling jerry cans of fuel]

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revenue civilians incomes don't count. Which is where the misuse of the word

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rent comes in, renting natural resources is like asking to borrow a tank of gas

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claiming you'll give it right back when you're done so let's look over these [Client taking some fuel]

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answer choices and see which state relies on renting out its natural

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resources. Well Russia and Mexico both have advanced economies based mostly on

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manufacturing and services, which is a far cry from having to rent out natural [Workers on a production line]

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resources so cross out C and E. Great Britain exports a number of

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natural resources but we're only talking about one branch of the UK's highly

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advanced economy A is definitely not our answer. Now what's the key component that [People holding a key]

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defines a rentier state, channel that inner Jimmy Neutron... Oh yeah it's right [Jimmy Neutron's head explodes]

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in the name a rentier state's government generates most of its revenue by renting

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the use of its natural resources. Which means Iran can't work because most of

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its oil fields are publicly owned and operated so [Nodding donkey oil pump]

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Iran's government actually runs the biz rather than renting out its facilities [Iran government man wearing shades]

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which leaves us with D. Nigeria is a rentier state, its economy relies on renting

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oil reserves to foreign countries and businesses especially Royal Dutch Shell. [Nigeria handing oil over to the U.S.]

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A rentier states government is afraid to commit to a relationship though it

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only rents out its use of natural resources. Don't get your hopes up there

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shell Nigeria could start swooning over a prettier oil company at any moment. [Nigeria runs away from Shell with Sunoco]

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