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Article: George on land speculation and the winner's curse.(Symposium on Echos of Henry George's Economics in Modern Analysis)
- Article from:
- The American Journal of Economics and Sociology
- Article date:
- November 1, 2004
- Author:
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Adam Smith knew about the neutrality of taxes on land. He says of a tax on land, "As it has no tendency to diminish the quantity, it can have none to raise the price of that produce. It does not obstruct the industry of the people" (1937 [1776], p. 780). Smith's view of taxes on land has been the general view among economists since then, and in fact one can trace Smith's argument to the French physiocrats who preceded him.
Henry George claimed more for a tax on land. He stated that taxing land has not only the virtue of not stifling production the way other taxes do, but also the virtue of eliminating land speculation. He wrote:
And to shift the ...