National governments originate historically to acquire, hold and police land. Other functions are assumed later, but sovereignty over land is always the first business. Private parties hold land from the sovereign: every chain of title goes back to a grantor who originally seized the land. When economists today speak of “rent—seeking” they usually are . . . → Read More: Rent-Seeking and Global Conflict
 Comments are closed  Policy Paper  Economic History, Economic Science, Land Rent, Politics, Rent-seeking Once upon a time each building was written off from taxable income over something purporting to approximate its economic life. Then Congress and the industry began implementing the Commons variation of the George principle. They began shortening tax lives and steepening the gradient of depreciation paths. The light broke on most of us with . . . → Read More: Land Gains, Fast Write-Off, and Incentives to Build Comments are closed Address, Publication Banking, Depreciation, Economic History, Macroeconomic stability, Macroeconomics, Public finance Professor Harry G. Brown often complained of a “conspiracy of silence” against the land tax idea. Certainly it has received more silence than its due, yet it would be hard to find a topic on which so many economists have rendered opinions and taken positions over the last two hundred years. I group these . . . → Read More: Two Centuries of Economic Thought on Taxation of Land Rents One comment - (Comments are closed) Publication Economic History, Economic Science, Georgist history, Literature Review The object of human organization is synergy, combining parts into a whole greater than their sum. Large organizations seek synergy in hierarchy and financial controls. Cities achieve it by bringing independent actors into mutual access so they can cooperate via free contracts and association in the marketplace, in government and society. This paper purports . . . → Read More: The Synergistic City: Its Potentials, Hindrances and Fulfillment Comments are closed Publication Economic History, Land economics -- urban, Land Rent, Property taxation, Tax policy, urban development, Urban Economics The last 25 years have witnessed a fundamental change in state and local land policy, reflecting a revolutionary change in attitudes towards immigration and growth. Local governments used to compete to attract people, now it seems to exclude them In the battle of boosters versus knockers, the knockers have won going away. We have . . . → Read More: Changes in Land Policy: How Fundamental are They? Comments are closed Publication Economic History, Economic Science, Land economics -- urban, Politics, Property taxation, Tax policy, urban expansion |