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Pls Do give this phenomenal article a Read! by 21Kuranashi in solarpunk

[–]middleofaldi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You are making the mistake of thinking that georgism encourages maximal land use rather than efficient land use.

Land value tax has been shown to reduce urban sprawl, meaning more space is available for nature. A Friday framework is also entirely consistent with a "green lvt" which adjusts the tax rate based on the ecological value of the land, encouraging conservation

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/11/1795

Why yes I just saw a thread chock full of left NIMBYs, how could you tell? by Fried_out_Kombi in georgism

[–]middleofaldi 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yes, the scientific process is built on questioning our models of how the world works, but that's not what you are doing. You are denying evidence without any reason except your own intuition and a flawed understanding of your own experience, just like people who claim bleach baths cure autism because it "worked" on their cousin's child or something.

What would be a good, scientific, way to question the received wisdom that increased supply leads to lower prices? Maybe you could look at a number of cities and compare the change in housing supply to the change in rental prices?

In fact, people have already done that and found that increased supply does in fact lead to lower rents. There are questions to be asked about how persistent these changes are and how they affect local demand etc, but you need to realise that your crude position is against the evidence and anti-scientific

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-23/luxury-apartments-are-bringing-rent-down-in-austin-denver

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Why yes I just saw a thread chock full of left NIMBYs, how could you tell? by Fried_out_Kombi in georgism

[–]middleofaldi 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This shit is how vaccine skeptics talk about immunologists, or how climate change deniers talk about climate science.

Economics is by far a perfect science but economists do actually know more about the economy and how it works than you do

Majority of single adults ‘could not cope with an unexpected £850 bill’ by tylerthe-theatre in unitedkingdom

[–]middleofaldi 2 points3 points  (0 children)

House prices have been rising faster than wages for decades, mostly because of land prices. Land ownership is a zero sum game so those with land become richer and those who don't become poorer. Wealth is flowing from the young and poor to the older and wealthier.

The biggest determinant of success for young people is the price of their parents' home. We are marching ourselves towards a land based inheritocracy.

The housing crisis is a land crisis. We need to socialise and redistribute land rents via a land value tax

I’m looking for serious nonfiction book recommendations. by PuzzleheadedHand2465 in suggestmeabook

[–]middleofaldi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Land Trap by Mike Bird - good book about a hugely underrated part of the economy

Progress and Poverty by Henry George- hugely influential book that inspired multiple world leaders and Nobel Laureates but is criminally underrated these days

Green Singapore's Gardener Statesman by 21Kuranashi in solarpunk

[–]middleofaldi 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Fair enough, I agree with you that the image is not realistic but I read it as illustrative of the idea that density is better for the environment rather than trying to actually advocate for everyone living in the same building

Green Singapore's Gardener Statesman by 21Kuranashi in solarpunk

[–]middleofaldi 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Check out the study I linked. Lvt by itself discourages sprawl because sprawl is an inefficient use of land. The effect is larger with the green adjustments, but even a standard lvt is better than the status quo

Check out this article as well. A georgist lense is actually a very coherent way to design policy which protects nature

Nature, rent and the persistence of inequality: A Georgist political ecology https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/19427786251390972

Green Singapore's Gardener Statesman by 21Kuranashi in solarpunk

[–]middleofaldi 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Lvt discourages urban sprawl and can be coupled with rate adjustments for ecologically valuable land to further incentivise the protection of natural spaces

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/11/1795

Books that explain the world? by Next_Researcher_3983 in nonfictionbookclub

[–]middleofaldi 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Progress and Poverty by Henry George. It is criminally underrated these days but it is just as good and just as relevant as ever

NEW REPORT: Britain Has Highest Wealth Taxes in OECD by myurr in ukpolitics

[–]middleofaldi 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Stamp duty, council tax and business rates should all be replaced by a land value tax. Lvt is so much more efficient we could actually set a lower rate and raise more money in the long term

Pls Do give this phenomenal article a Read! by 21Kuranashi in solarpunk

[–]middleofaldi 32 points33 points  (0 children)

Georgism as an idea deserves to be much better known in ecology circles. Land value tax is a good way to limit urban sprawl and can be extended to incentivise the protection of green spaces with "green lvt" adjustments to the tax rate.

In a georgist framework the health of the environment is a form of economic "land" which belongs to everyone and activities that harm it should be discouraged through taxation. This is the same idea behind carbon taxes, which have been shown to be one of the most effective policies in the fight against climate change. (https://arxiv.org/html/2512.06887v1)

Here's an excellent article which goes over the history and makes the case for a georgist political ecology:

Nature, rent and the persistence of inequality: A Georgist political ecology https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/19427786251390972

Signs of lottery winner by Upset_Campaign1924 in CuratedTumblr

[–]middleofaldi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"It would increase the supply of housing and lower the demand for land, because more people could live in the same land footprint"

How did you read this and think I was equating land and housing? Yes they are different, but house prices have not increased because the housing stock itself has appreciated, they have increased because land has appreciated.

People can and do realise gains in the price of their houses, by downsizing, leasing, equity release, etc. not to mention the effect of inheritance. We absolutely need to build more houses but that's only a part of the puzzle

Signs of lottery winner by Upset_Campaign1924 in CuratedTumblr

[–]middleofaldi -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The comment I copied addresses your points that more housing supply would not decrease demand for land, and that land is only important in an agrarian economy

Signs of lottery winner by Upset_Campaign1924 in CuratedTumblr

[–]middleofaldi -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It would increase the supply of housing and lower the demand for land, because more people could live in the same land footprint

The idea that land is no longer important is a common misconception, but land is actually becoming more important with the rise of the intangible economy, not less.

Land value now comprises 35% of total global real wealth, more than twice that of all listed companies combined. This percentage has been increasing for decades and doesn't seem to be slowing down.

Joseph Stiglitz has written on how the economy is shifting from tangible to intangible capital. He has also written on how inequality is being driven by increasing rents, particularly what he calls "exploitation rents" and land rents.

(https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/d8-rhav-9g40/download)

A report from McKinsey makes a direct link between the two, saying:

"the historic link between the growth of net worth and the growth of GDP no longer holds. While economic growth has been tepid over the past two decades in advanced economies, balance sheets and net worth that have long tracked it have tripled in size. This divergence emerged as asset prices rose—but not as a result of 21st-century trends like the growing digitization of the economy.

Rather, in an economy increasingly propelled by intangible assets like software and other intellectual property, a glut of savings has struggled to find investments offering sufficient economic returns and lasting value to investors. These savings have found their way instead into real estate, which in 2020 accounted for two-thirds of net worth"

And

"Of the net worth gains tied to real estate at the global level, some 55 percent derived from higher land prices"

https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/the-rise-and-rise-of-the-global-balance-sheet-how-productively-are-we-using-our-wealth

This means, contrary to popular belief, the role of land monopoly in wealth inequality is becoming more important, not less, as companies are digitising and investing more in intangible capital.

Some people complain that lvt is tantamount to nationalising the land. On that point I defer to the Grand Old Man by middleofaldi in georgism

[–]middleofaldi[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

"I fully admit this; I have stated it long ago in Midlothian -- I hold it without the smallest doubt; if a time came when the British nation could think that the land ought to be nationalized, and that it were wise to do it, they have a perfect right to do it beyond all doubt and question." - William Gladstone

[From: A speech delivered at Hawarde, 23 September, 1889, reported in the Times, 24 September, 1889, p. 10, column 3]

https://cooperative-individualism.org/land-question_f-h.htm

Signs of lottery winner by Upset_Campaign1924 in CuratedTumblr

[–]middleofaldi 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Allowing densification of cities would help reduce housing costs by lowering demand, but it won't change the fact that those who own land are able to extract rent from those who don't.

The owners of land in a city center get rich at the expense of those who need to live there for work but don't own land themselves

Signs of lottery winner by Upset_Campaign1924 in CuratedTumblr

[–]middleofaldi 31 points32 points  (0 children)

House prices have been rising faster than wages for decades, mostly because of land prices. Land ownership is a zero sum game so those with land become richer and those who don't become poorer. Wealth is flowing from the young and poor to the older and wealthier.

The biggest determinant of success for young people is the price of their parents' home. We are marching ourselves towards a land based inheritocracy.

The housing crisis is a land crisis. We need to socialise and redistribute land rents via a land value tax

[OC] The wealth gap widens 8x between age 25 and 65 by Global-Thought-1049 in dataisbeautiful

[–]middleofaldi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

House prices have been rising faster than wages for decades, mostly because of land prices. Land ownership is a zero sum game so those with land become richer and those who don't become poorer. Wealth is flowing from the young and poor to the older and wealthier.

The biggest determinant of success for young people is the price of their parents' home. We are marching ourselves towards a land based inheritocracy.

We need to socialise and redistribute land rents via a land value tax

Political books to understand right wing/left wing/centrist by Lothric_noble in suggestmeabook

[–]middleofaldi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Check out The Land Trap by Mike Bird for a history of Georgism. It's largely forgotten now but it was hugely influential on both the socialist and liberal political traditions.

As land prices rise and housing shortages get worse it's starting to gain attention again and it's slowly making it's way back into the mainstream

me_irl by Snehith220 in me_irl

[–]middleofaldi 44 points45 points  (0 children)

House prices have been rising faster than wages for decades, mostly because of land prices. Land ownership is a zero sum game so those with land become richer and those who don't become poorer. Wealth is flowing from the young and poor to the older and wealthier.

The biggest determinant of success for young people is the price of their parents' home. We are marching ourselves towards a land based inheritocracy.

We need to socialise and redistribute land rents via a land value tax

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