Henry George proposed that land speculation creates boom-bust cycles. I propose a real-assets model of economic crises, loosely based on George’s theory, in which land prices play a central role. Swings in land prices affect the entire economy by three mechanisms: construction on marginal sites, partial displacement of circulating capital by fixed capital investment, and . . . → Read More: A Real-Assets Model of Economic Crises: Will China Crash in 2015
 Comments are closed  Policy Paper, Publication  Capital theory, Henry George, Land Economics -- General, Macroeconomic stability, Macroeconomics Working capital is the bloodstream of economic life. It is physical capital, the fast turning inventories of goods in process and finished goods that supply materials to the worker, and feed and clothe her family. Short term commercial loans and trade credit buy it, but the capital is “real”—a fact often forgotten in the . . . → Read More: How to Thaw Credit, Now and Forever Comments are closed Essay, Publication Capital theory, Land Economics - Macroeconomics, Land economics -- urban, Macroeconomics, urban development This crash is The Big One; it has signs of becoming a Category 5. How do we know? We’ve “been there and done that” so many times before, roughly every 18 years over the last 800 or more. Major wars and, rarely, plagues have broken the rhythm, along with the little ice age, reformation . . . → Read More: THE GREAT CRASH OF 2008 Comments are closed Essay, Publication Depression, Land Economics - Macroeconomics, Macroeconomics, Recession “Stimulus” is the buzzword du jour of domestic policy, but its old metaphors ring with sad satiety: kick-start the motor, jump the battery, prime the pump, shot-in-the-arm, wake-up call, jolt, multiplier, ripple effect, … . Fact is, “we’ve been there and done that” several times for generations back. We have been doing it again . . . → Read More: Stimulus: the False and the True Comments are closed Essay, Publication Land Economics - Macroeconomics, Macroeconomic stability, Macroeconomics, Politics In January 2006 Insights showed how successive administrations in Washington have doctored the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to conceal the real rise in the Cost of Living (COL). Self-defined “mainstream” economists have served as tools, some as active leaders and others as sheep in the herd. For Insights column in Groundswell December 2007 . . . → Read More: The Shrinking Dollar Comments are closed Essay, Publication inflation, Land Economics - Macroeconomics, Macroeconomic stability, Macroeconomics To consume most goods and services is to eat them up, burn them, wear them out, see them break or rust out or crack or tumble down. But how about land, does anyone think of that? Land as space is not used up. To consume it is to preempt its service flow . . . → Read More: What Is “Consumption”? We hear a lot these days about the need for more capital to make jobs. Some of what we hear and read we may discount as self-serving, lobbying for more preferential tax treatment of profits. Yet there is a case argued by sincere and public-minded people on objective grounds which we must take seriously. . . . → Read More: Taxes, Capital and Jobs – Revised Comments are closed Publication capital gains, Capital theory, Land Economics - Macroeconomics, Macroeconomics, Unemployment In 1907 Cannan fired off a round at local rating of site values. It hit home. First he recited the logic of what today we call the “tragedy of the commons” (it was common coin long before Garrett Hardin). Then he pointed out that a city taxing only site values to provide free public . . . → Read More: A Cannan Hits the Mark 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 In order to protect the environment, we are going to have to face up to the chronic (and now acute) problem of mass unemployment. To save jobs and make jobs we now tolerate polluting mills and vehicles; we chew up more earth each year for energy and materials; we secure and protect mineral rights . . . → Read More: Environmental Policies and Full Employment |