Upon observing the consistent, yet seemingly inexplicable relationship between societal progress and increasing rates of poverty, 19th century social reformer Henry George described the phenomenon as “the riddle that the sphinx of fate puts to our civilization.”

Founded in 1925 as the “Robert Schalkenbach Foundation,” the Progress & Poverty Institute exists to solve this riddle.  Functioning as a faithful repository of George’s ideas, as well as a generator of modern day research and community-level interventions, PPI works to enhance economic equity and ensure the rights of all people to benefit equally from the fruits of their labor and of our communal resources.