I really like this thinking. I don't necessarily like the assignment of labels to concepts in this post. E.g.: I use capitalism in a manner mutually exclusive with slave labor because it requires self-ownership. And I don't think a definition of "exploitation" should require a strategic element; I would say that not allowing an employee to read mystery novels when customers aren't around is exploitative. But this idea of using an asymmetry of power to deepen the asymmetry is a clearly useful concept.
My intended meaning of the wording is that the "infliction" is relative to a more Pareto-optimal trade. E.g.: in the ultimatum game, us splitting a dollar with 99 cents to me and 1 cent to you is a positive-benefit trade, but is still inflicting a cost if you assume the negotation begins at 50/50.
The idea of the subtrade is an interesting thought, but I think any trade needs to be considered an atomic agreement. E.g.: while I might physically hand the convenience store clerk a dollar before they give me the candy bar, it can't be broken down into two trades, because the full agreement is there from the outset.
But if they demand an extra $1 bribe in the middle, giving me the choice "Pay another $1 and get candy bar, call authorities and waste a lot of time, or pay $0 and get no candy bar," then that's a new trade
A trade is exploitative when it decreases a society's wealth generating ability.
Suppose my son really wants to be a circus performer, but I want him to go to college; he says that, if he couldn't be a circus performer, he'd be a doctor. My son is about to enter a big circus competition, and I tell him that, if he wins, I'll give my full blessing and financial support for him to attend circus academy instead.
By that definition, it sounds like my offer to let him pursue his dream is actually exploitative!
if you are twice as good at wealth-creating than me, you should have about seven times as many dollars
This is for me the most interesting part of your comment. I want to know how this was derived.
I see. So the maximalization is important to the definition. I think then, under this definition, using Villiam's pie example from another thread, the person taking 90% of the pie would not be exploiting the other person if he knew they could survive with 9%.
I think this definition would also say that a McDonald's employee who puts me into a hard upsell is exploiting me so long as they never physically handle my credit card and don't have the capacity to trap me or otherwise do more than upselling. But if they handle my credit card and don't steal the number, then they're no longer an exploiter.
That is to say:
1. The maximization criteria is unstable
2. There needs to be some condition about the manner in which they extract value; otherwise, plenty of ordinary business transactions in which one side does its best would be considered "exploitation"
An interesting proposal that I'll have to think about. I'm still uneasy with throwing lying in with uses of power.
Also, this one clearly does include the parenting example I gave, and is strictly broader than my proposed definition.
We have different intuitons about this term then.
I was very surprised after posting this then some commenters considered things like wage theft and outright fraud to be exploitation, whereas I consider such illegal behavior to be in a different category.
In the pie example, the obvious answer is that giving the other person only 10% of the pie prevents them from gaining the security to walk away next time I present the same offer.
Can you give some examplse of something contained by my definition which you think shouldn't be considered exploitation?
What would this look like for the example of the parent, the girlfriend, or the yelling boss?
When I was a kid and 9/11 happened, some people online were talking about the effect on the stock market. My mom told me that the stock exchange was down the street from the WTC and not damaged, so I thought the people on the Internet were all wrong.
A gap in the proposed definition of exploitation is that it assumes some natural starting point of negotiation, and only evaluates divergence from that natural starting point.
In the landlord case, fair-market value of rent is a natural starting point, and landlords don't have enough of a superior negotiating position to force rent upwards. (If they did by means of supply scarcity, then that higher point would definitionally be the new FMV.) Ergo, no exploitation.
On the other hand, if the landlord tried to increase the rent on a renewing tenant much more than is typical precisely because they know the tenant has circumstances (e.g.: physical injury) that make moving out much harder than normal, then that would be exploitative per this definition.