10. The figures are gathered and kept by people who use different definitions. To quantify rent in the classical sense, we’d have to decode published figures, using controversial methods.
Tag Archives: Issue #110
A Look at Rental Value Assessments
by Lindy Davies
There are perennial conversations about the pitfalls of LVT implementation, about assessment procedures and the chronic political problems associated with them, and about the sufficiency of land rent as a revenue source. These issues cause frustration, sometimes, because we lack the resources with which to properly address them; alas, the major research-grant money has not been flowing in. Continue reading
Hey! I’m Running for President…
by Lindy Davies
I occupy an odd political niche in my family. My Dad, who has always been a take-care-of-business Republican, has moved further to the right now that he is retired and has more time to listen to the radio. On the other wing, my father-in-law has used his retirement to delve more deeply into Socialism. Continue reading
Progress and Poverty
by Emma Lazarus
Oh splendid age when Science 
lights her lamp
At the brief lightning’s momentary flame.
Fixing it steadfast as a star, man’s name
Upon the very brow of heaven to stamp,
Launched on a ship whose iron-cuirassed sides
Mock storm and wave. Humanity sails free;
Gayly upon a vast untraveled sea,
O’er pathless wastes, to ports undreamed she rides.
Richer than Cleopatra’s barge of gold,
This vessel, manned by demi-gods, with freight
Of priceless marvels. But where yawns the hold
In that deep, reeking hell, what slaves be they
Who feed the ravenous monster, pant and sweat,
Nor know if overhead reign night or day?
Published in the New York Times, October 2, 1881
New York Fed Studies NYC Land Values
by Fred Foldvary
In its April/May 2008 publication “Current Issues in Economics and Finance: Second District Highlights,” the Federal Reserve Bank of New York presents a study by Andrew Haughwout, James Orr, and David Bedoll on “The Price of Land in the New York Metropolitan Area.” Continue reading
The President
A novel by John Stewart. Shepheard-Walwyn, Ltd., London, 2008. Review by Lindy Davies.
What a nice thing to see! An impressively laid-out trade paperback with an imposing image of the White House on its cover: a novel about a US President who gets the “location value” bug and turns his citizens on to it! Continue reading
The Silver Bullet
By Fred Harrison. Published by the International Union for Land Value Taxation and Free Trade, London, 2008. Review by Lindy Davies.
Harrison’s latest book, the first publication of the newly-revitalized International Union, makes use of the IU’s “special consultative status” at theUnited Nations by offering the UN some clear, pointed (and much-needed) advice. Continue reading
The $1/day Benchmark Fails to Enlighten
by Lindy Davies
Like many other commentators on global poverty, both Philippe Diaz (The End of Poverty?) and Fred Harrison (The Silver Bullet) frequently refer to the “dollar a day benchmark” for extreme poverty. They do so mainly because the standard is familiar to many people. Unfortunately, though, the $1 per day benchmark is neither well-understood nor meaningful. Continue reading
The End of Poverty?
Philippe Diaz, writer/director. Produced by Cinema Libre Studios with support from the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation. Review by Lindy Davies.
Conversations about poverty — about our world’s dire social and environmental problems and what can be done about them — tend to be shouted from two sides of a very distinct fence. Continue reading
The Great Crash of 2008
by Mason Gaffney
Galloping settlement sprawl, such as that of the last 16 years, has set us up for The Great Crash of 2008. It has the signs of being a Category 5.
There are two main varieties: urban sprawl, and continental sprawl. Let’s start with a modest case of urban sprawl. Continue reading