This book is as relevant today as it was when it was published in 1983: we are faced with another global depression, which as it deepens, intensifies the pressure on governments and puts policy-makers in a dilemma. Every prescription has its negative: monetarism - unemployment; Keynesianism - inflation; and the planned economy - authoritarianism. This dilemma, the author argues, stems from a distortion in our understanding of how the industrial economy works, a distortion he traces back to Adam Smith. Adam Smith provided the captains of industry with a theoretical framework and moral justification for the new mode of production which sprang from the Industrial Revolution. He believed he was setting out the rules for a free market system but, inconsistently, he granted landowners an exemption enabling them to exert a monopoly influence on the market which remains to this day. The Marxist critique blames the capitalist for the ills of the system, yet Marx himself acknowledged that the power of the owners of capital rested on the power inherent in land. Both Marx and Smith recognized the special role of landowners who, in the words of J.S.Mill, "grow richer in their sleep without working, risking or economizing", but neither pursued the macro-economic implications and, if anything, covered them up. The author looks at the implications: the conflict between labour and capital is a false one that obstructs a rational strategy for rescuing the Western economy; the origins of the collapse of the 1980s are to be found in land speculation; this exploitation of the unique power, intrinsic to land, gives rise to inner city decay, urban sprawl, misallocation of resources, mass unemployment and the meteoric rise of property values. The major industrial nations entered the 1990s in the midst of land booms offering riches for a few but unemployment for many: banks in Texas were bankrupted by massive speculation in real estate and even embassies had to abandon their offices because they could not afford the rents in Tokyo. In Britain, the spoils from housing - the direct result of the way the land market operates - have enriched owner-occupiers but crippled the flow of workers into regions where entrepreneurs wanted to invest and lead the economy back to full employment. Thus, it is the author's thesis that land speculation is the major cause of depressions. He shows how the land market functions to distort the relations between labour and capital and how land speculation periodically chokes off economic expansion, causing stagnation. The remedy proposed by the author is a fiscal one which would remove the disruptive factor of land speculation and transfer the burden of taxes from labour and capital to economic rent, a publicly created revenue. This would create employment and higher growth rates, while avoiding the inflation-risk policy of deficit financing; increased consumption and investment would be generated by the private sector, not government.
The Power In The Land
Sobre este libro
This book is as relevant today as it was when it was published in 1983: we are faced with another global depression, which as it deepens, intensifies the pressure on governments and puts policy-makers in a dilemma. Every prescription has its negative: monetarism - unemployment; Keynesianism - inflation; and the planned economy - authoritarianism. This dilemma, the author argues, stems from a distortion in our understanding of how the industrial economy works, a distortion he traces back to Adam Smith. Adam Smith provided the captains of industry with a theoretical framework and moral justification for the new mode of production which sprang from the Industrial Revolution. He believed he was setting out the rules for a free market system but, inconsistently, he granted landowners an exemption enabling them to exert a monopoly influence on the market which remains to this day. The Marxist critique blames the capitalist for the ills of the system, yet Marx himself acknowledged that the power of the owners of capital rested on the power inherent in land. Both Marx and Smith recognized the special role of landowners who, in the words of J.S.Mill, "grow richer in their sleep without working, risking or economizing", but neither pursued the macro-economic implications and, if anything, covered them up. The author looks at the implications: the conflict between labour and capital is a false one that obstructs a rational strategy for rescuing the Western economy; the origins of the collapse of the 1980s are to be found in land speculation; this exploitation of the unique power, intrinsic to land, gives rise to inner city decay, urban sprawl, misallocation of resources, mass unemployment and the meteoric rise of property values. The major industrial nations entered the 1990s in the midst of land booms offering riches for a few but unemployment for many: banks in Texas were bankrupted by massive speculation in real estate and even embassies had to abandon their offices because they could not afford the rents in Tokyo. In Britain, the spoils from housing - the direct result of the way the land market operates - have enriched owner-occupiers but crippled the flow of workers into regions where entrepreneurs wanted to invest and lead the economy back to full employment. Thus, it is the author's thesis that land speculation is the major cause of depressions. He shows how the land market functions to distort the relations between labour and capital and how land speculation periodically chokes off economic expansion, causing stagnation. The remedy proposed by the author is a fiscal one which would remove the disruptive factor of land speculation and transfer the burden of taxes from labour and capital to economic rent, a publicly created revenue. This would create employment and higher growth rates, while avoiding the inflation-risk policy of deficit financing; increased consumption and investment would be generated by the private sector, not government.
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Progress and Poverty, Volumes I and II : Enriched edition. An Inquiry into the Cause of Industrial Depressions and of Increase of Want with Increase of Wealth

Notas desde un país extranjero

Land and Taxation

El peligro de estar cuerda

Global Trade Mastery : A Practical Guide to Export Excellence

Summary: Michael Lewis' The Fifth Risk

Exceptional Customer Service : Exceed Customer Expectations to Build Loyalty & Boost Profits

Laudatio naturae : 50 Aniversario

1001 Business Letters for All Occasions : From Interoffice Memos and Employee Evaluations to Company Policies and Business Invitations - Templates for Every Situation

Los contratos de utilización del buque y el seguro marítimo

¡Es la microbiota, idiota! : Descubre cómo tu salud depende de los billones de microorganismos que habitan en tu cuerpo

Bombshells : Five Women Who Set the Fifties on Fire

La especulación inmobiliaria y el silencio de los corderos

Brady and Hindley : Genesis of the Moors Murders

The Shepheard Walwyn Classics : 3 in 1

The Corruption of Economics

The Predator Culture

Ricardo's Law : House Prices And The Great Tax Clawback Scam

The Traumatised Society : How To Outlaw Cheating And Save Our Civilisation

Boom Bust
