It is part of George’s genius that his proposals solve one problem by resolving it with another, turning two problems into one solution. It is something like tuning up the orchestra for a concert, turning dissonance into harmony, and keeping the beat together, turning cacaphony into rhythm. It is the mark of . . . → Read More: George’s Economics of Abundance
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Taxes or rental charges for water use are bearable and legal and would spur water economy, but the following fallacies impede acceptance of these ideas: (1) water rights are real property, (ii) a charge on water would be passed on to consumers, (iii) the cost of water is just its development cost, (iv) markets . . . → Read More: The Taxable Surplus in Water Values  Comments are closed  Publication  Incidence, Land Economics - Water, Natural Resources, Public finance, Water In the sections that follow, I first document the rise of inequality in the distribution of farmland that followed a sharp drop in farm property tax rates after 1930. Then I show, by cross-sectional analysis, a positive relationship between higher property tax rates and more intensive use of farmland, which in turn is associated . . . → Read More: Rising Inequality and Falling Property Tax Rates The Harvard Registrar reports the most popular undergraduate courses now are “Justice,” “Principles of Economics,” “The Concept of the Hero,” and “Literature of Social Reflection.” The “Me Generation” is passing; Justice, Heroism and Social Thought are “In.” Are economists ready for this future? I think not: changes must be made. Classical political-economists were moral . . . → Read More: Equity Premises and the Case for Socializing Rent Comments are closed Publication Economic History, Economic Science, Land Rent, land value tax, Politics, progressive, Public finance, Tax policy, tax reform, Tax Shift, welfare economics So called “capital gains” are actually unearned income, economic rent. Expanding tax favors for capital gains worsens inequality and impairs the economy. . . . → Read More: Capital Gains and the Future of Free Enterprise In 1986, Congress made realized capital gains fully taxable, in the spirit of uniformity animating the 1986 reform. Now we are witnessing a major effort to revive the exclusion of part or all of capital gains from taxable income, partly on the grounds that much of the gains are “phantom” income, an illusion of inflation. . . . → Read More: The Partiality of Indexing Capital Gains A CONSENSUS has emerged among centrist economists that realized capital gains, before they are taxed, should be indexed for inflation in order to exclude phantom gains. Indexing means multiplying the historical cost, or tax “basis,” of the asset by a price index before subtracting it from sales price. This, apparently reasonable proposal is, in . . . → Read More: Indexing Capital Gains Comments are closed Publication capital gains, inflation, Property taxation, Public finance, tax exemptions, Tax policy, tax reform The writer acknowledges the role and value of abstract reasoning in economics. He has done his share of it, and is not reacting against rationalism or marginalism. Abstract, however, should not mean abstruse or obscure; theoretical should not mean irrelevant or impractical; ideal should not mean intolerant or imperialistic. Theorists are increasingly scorning those rules . . . → Read More: Logos Abused: The Decadence and Tyranny of Abstract Reasoning in Economics GEORGIST POLICY HAS been shown as a means to revive dying cities, and in the process to reconcile equity and efficiency, to reconcile supply side economics with taxation, and to reconcile capital formation with taxation of the rich. It can be seen as a means of harmonizing collectivism and individualism, in the most constructive . . . → Read More: How to Revitalize a Failing City Comments are closed Publication Economic Science, Land economics -- urban, Tax policy, urban development, Urban Economics, urban expansion, urban renewal The classical political-economists made distribution of wealth and income the centerpiece of their discipline. This led smoothly, if unintentionally, into the socialist slogan, “The problem is not production, but distribution.” From about 1890, “neoclassical” economists preferred to downplay distribution. Distribution is troublesome, they said, because beliefs about it are often subjective and . . . → Read More: Justice in Distribution |