By Rory Sutherland, The Spectator
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/have-big-cities-had-their-day-/amp
Henry George
ABSTRACT. The world's peoples are demanding: who should be the Lords of the Land or-should anyone be? By what right does anyone acquire the privilege of monopolizing that which should be the her- itage of all? A century ago Henry George saw the nature of this ques- tion, the land question, outlined the solution and foresaw the conse- quences if we failed to address it.
by ANNIKA NEKLASON APR 15, 2019
In 1879, a political economist argued that wealth derived from land value belonged to the American public. Today, economists are reviving interest in his ideas as a way to combat wealth disparities.
https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2019/04/henry-georges-sing…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX5gzRnUfSw Francis K. Peddle, J.D., Ph.D., is currently Vice-President -- Academic Affairs at the Dominican University College, Ottawa, Canada and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Philosophy. He is a barrister and solicitor and has been a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada for over twenty years.
I take issue with the final sentence in the below New York Times op-ed. Not only did Georgism account for greed, it was essentially designed as a system to dampen or ameliorate greed, which I would think means the desire (and collection) of more wealth than one deserves.
Greed, in economics, is almost synonymous with rent-seeking. Georgism neutralizes rent seeking (provided new forms of rent are identified and taxed as the greedy invent them). As long as assessment is accurate, greed becomes very difficult to act upon.
Henry George was a 19th century American economist. He began with the ethical premise that all people have an equal right to the use of the earth. From that he concluded that exclusive private ownership of land (natural resources) creates unwarranted special privileges. Furthermore, he observed that holding land out of production drives down real wages and the returns to capital equipment. This process is further exacerbated by taxes on production and income that:
•increase unemployment
•discourage productive investment
•encourage unproductive land speculation and rent-seeking