Here's a bit about Henry George, author of Progress and Poverty.
Henry GeorgeAmerican economist
definition list of 2 items
born
September 2, 1839
Philadelphia
, Pennsylvania
died
October 29, 1897
New York City
, New York
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Henry George, (born Sept. 2, 1839,
Philadelphia
—died Oct. 29, 1897,
New York City),
land reformer and economist who in
Progress and Poverty
(1879) proposed the
single tax:
that the state tax away all economic rent—the income from the use of
the bare land, but not from improvements—and abolish all other taxes.
Leaving school before his 14th birthday, George worked for two years
as a clerk in an importing house and then went to sea. Back in
Philadelphia in 1856,
he learned typesetting and in 1857 signed up as a steward on another
ship, quitting it in San Francisco to join the gold rush in Canada,
where, however,
he arrived too late. In 1858 he returned to
California,
where he worked for newspapers and took part in
Democratic Party
politics until 1880. In 1871 he and two partners started the San
Francisco Daily Evening Post, but credit difficulties forced them to
close it in 1875.
A political appointment as state gas-meter inspector enabled him to
work on Progress and Poverty, which caught the spirit of discontent
that had arisen
from the economic depression of 1873–78. This popular book was
translated into many languages. Its vogue was enhanced by George’s
pamphlets, his frequent
contributions to magazines, and his lecture tours in both the
United States
and the British Isles.
As a basis for his argument, George gave new meaning to the orthodox,
or “Ricardian” (after English economist
David Ricardo),
doctrine of
rent.
He applied the law of diminishing returns and the concept of “margin
of productivity” to land alone. He argued that since economic progress
entailed a
growing scarcity of land, the idle landowner reaped ever greater
returns at the expense of the productive factors of labour and
capital. This unearned
economic
rent,
he held, should be taxed away by the state. George envisaged that the
government’s annual income from this “single tax” would be so large
that there would
be a surplus for expansion of public works. His economic argument was
reinforced and dominated by humanitarian and religious appeal.
George’s specific remedy had no significant practical result, and few
economists of reputation supported it. Critics have observed that
taxes on site values
can reduce the incentive to make sites valuable, thereby weakening the
intent of the tax. Nevertheless, George’s forceful emphasis on
“privilege,” his
demand for equality of opportunity, and his systematic economic
analysis proved a stimulus to orderly reform.
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