Economic Rent

How Our Obsession with Owning the Land Beneath our Homes Is Driving the Housing Affordability Crisis (and What to Do about It)

by admin

This is the first in a series of articles discussing housing affordability, economic justice, and inequality in the United States. Afew months ago, I took the plunge and bought a home the traditional way, house and land packaged as one. Buying a home this way was… Read More »How Our Obsession with Owning the Land Beneath our Homes Is Driving the Housing Affordability Crisis (and What to Do about It)

The Eviction Crisis: Noise and Insight

by admin

On legal process grounds, the U.S. Supreme Court has just ended the Federal eviction moratorium about halfway through its sixty-day extension. But eviction moratoriums in seven states and the District of Columbia continue, as the homelessness crisis the Federal moratorium was intended to curb persists.… Read More »The Eviction Crisis: Noise and Insight

Why I am a Georgist

by admin
4 Comments

Henry George was an American economist, social philosopher and reformer of the late 1800s. He is known chiefly for analyzing and promoting a single tax on land value, thus eliminating all other taxes. With no tax on trade, and no sales taxes and no tariffs,… Read More »Why I am a Georgist

Taxing Rent Thaws Frozen Capital

by admin

The term frozen capital is used mainly to refer to any capital stock, unused or underused, that thereby reduces productive enterprise from operating at its optimum potential. In most instances, it is an accounting or bankers’ term,[1] often referring to inventory which is shelved or… Read More »Taxing Rent Thaws Frozen Capital

Assessing Election Results: Diversity vs. Disparity

by admin

The 2020 presidential election will inspire more commentary than any prior American election story. Because, among other reasons, the opinion polls both anticipating and following November 3, were so often wide of the mark. Blame is now being assessed (see, for example, the New York… Read More »Assessing Election Results: Diversity vs. Disparity

The Impact of Rent and Rent-Seeking on the Economy

by admin
1 Comment

Most recent economics texts have devoted little or no space to the subject of rent and rent seeking. In classical economics, that which prevailed over a century ago prior to what is today known as neoclassical economics, rent was a pivotal idea and factor of… Read More »The Impact of Rent and Rent-Seeking on the Economy

The Value of Public Land Trusts

by admin

Achieving the American Dream. That’s what many of us strive for. And that often means seeking a home to own. Perhaps you have experienced the excitement of unlocking the door of your newly-purchased home. Sadly, sometimes that dream can turn into the nightmare of home… Read More »The Value of Public Land Trusts