Writing
Publications
Short list of work posted to the web, with abstracts. For complete list, see CV.
Homelessness and Inequality published in The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, March 2020, pp 559-587. Homelessness and housing insecurity in the United States are not so much a housing problem or a poverty problem as a visible sign that growing wealth inequality has left millions of people unable to earn enough to afford adequate housing.
Putting Land and Power Back into Economics Review of Rethinking the Economics of Land and Housing by Josh Ryan-Collins, Toby Lloyd and Laurie MacFarlane, with the New Economics Foundation (Zed Books, 2017).
What’s the Matter with Wisconsin? Review of The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker, by Katherine J. Cramer (U. Chicago Press, 2016).
Time Traveling Back to Space Age Economics Chapter 3 in Rent Unmasked: How to Save the Global Economy and Build a Sustainable Future, Essays in Honour of Mason Gaffney, Fred Harrison, Ed. Shepheard-Walwyn Publishers, London, 2016.
“Sustainability Squared” How we can sustain both the environment and the people with existing technology that saves natural resources and creates more and better jobs. Published in Dollars & Sense: Real World Economics, January/February 2014.
Review of The Economics of Henry George: History’s Rehabilitation of America’s Greatest Early Economist by Phillip Bryson. Bryson highlights George’s major achievements, explaining why academic economists have rejected or neglected him, and why nonetheless George has had a major but little-acknowledged impact on economic thought. American Journal of Economics and Sociology, April 2012.
“Restore the Original Wealth Tax” In the age of income and corporate tax loopholes, the property tax remains the only tax many rich people and corporations pay–even though they have already substantially crippled it by convincing ordinary folks it’s a tax on the poor and middle class. Dollars & Sense Magazine, March/April 2011.
“George, Wicksell and Gaffney: A Three-Factor Model of the Boom and Bust Cycle.” Presented at the History of Economics Society, June 2007. Published March 2009, International Journal of Social Economics. Henry George proposed that land speculation drives the boom and bust cycle by periodically squeezing labor and capital; he saw rapid economic growth, aggravated by inequality of landownership, as stimulating the underlying cycles of speculation. Knut Wicksell proposed that the cycle arises when bank rates of interest lag the “natural” rate of interest; he attributed fluctuations in the “natural” rate to a Malthusian race between population and technology. Mason Gaffney has clarified and extended George’s model, and incorporated elements of Wicksell’s “Austrian” model. In all three models, the cycle arises in the real economy, not the financial sector. In George and Gaffney, wealth inequality plays a major role.
“Economics of Illegal Drug Markets: What Happens if We Downsize the Drug War?” in Drugs and Society: U.S. Public Policy, Jefferson M. Fish, ed., Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2005
If enforcement were cut back, the following would happen: 1. Prices would fall, marijuana especially, shifting consumption to marijuana and away from hard drugs and possibly alcohol. 2. Black market sales volume would increase, but the number of dealers would decrease. 3. The black market would become less dangerous, as stable adult dealers took over from violent teenage dealers. 4. The number of problem drug users would probably not increase, but their per capita consumption would increase.
“Mark Blaug: Edging Towards Full Appreciation,” in Critics of Henry George, A Centenary Appraisal of Their Strictures on Progress and Poverty, Robert V. Andelson, ed., (Boston and London, Blackwell Publishers): 2003.
Historian of Economic Thought Mark Blaug treats George dismissively in his textbook, Economic Theory in Retrospect, but has since come to view George more positively. Discussion and interview with Blaug.
“So Why Don’t You Go to Soros? That’s what funders say about drug policy reform. Here’s why more foundations should care about the war on drugs.” Foundation News & Commentary, July/August 1999.
Consequences and Causes of Unequal Distribution of Wealth, PhD dissertation, 1984.
This is a trade theory model of wealth distribution. The “rich” have a high ratio of assets to labor; the “poor” have a low ratio. They trade across a barrier of transaction costs. The more unequal the distribution, or the higher the transaction costs, the lower economic productivity and growth. The model has many interesting implications, including an explanation of social class. For more detail see C&C Background.
“The Effect of Pricing of Local Services on Urban Spatial Structure” Local Service Pricing Policies and their Effect on Urban Spatial Structure, Paul B. Downing, Ed., U. of British Columbia Press, Vancouver, 1977
A simple model of a water distribution system shows how water (and other utilities) should be priced, and how incorrect pricing can distort the system–in most cases subsidizing urban sprawl.
“Making Dollars and Sense of Fiscal Impact Analysis”, Planning, 1976. Why the local “fiscal impact” of a development is not a good guide to its desirability.
“Property Taxes and Land Value Taxes” The Real Estate Appraiser, September-October, 1975
Explanation and response to misconceptions about property taxes and land value taxes.
“Parks for Fun and Profit, The Story of Point Reyes”, Not Man Apart, 1972. How land speculators made a fortune during the purchase of Point Reyes National Seashore.
Power and Land in California: A Summary, 1971. Primary findings of the Ralph Nader report on Power and Land in California, 1970.
“California Without the Milk Stabilization Act”, Dairy Scope, 1976. Why California’s milk regulation leads to higher prices for consumers while squeezing out small dairy farmers.
Working Papers
Short list of papers posted to the web, with abstracts. For complete list, see CV.
Real Working Capital and the Boom and Bust Elephant 2016 As we don’t notice until a catastrophe like hurricane Katrina, we depend on a continually renewed supply of real working capital: inventories of finished goods and other inputs. The One Percent operates like an Elephant in the boom and bust cycle, creating period shortages of real working capital. Here’s a Powerpoint presentation of the story.
Obama Does Havana Observations on Cuban-U.S. History and Prospects During Obama’s Visit in March 2016.
Wealth Inequality, Working Capital, Growth and Instability: A Dual Economy Simulation Model. Presented at the EEA, 2016. In a “Rich” sector, a small population owns most of the land and much of the physical working capital–food and other supplies–call it “food”. Food serves both as consumption good and capital stock. A “Poor” sector, with most of the population, borrows working capital–food–from the Rich sector across a barrier of transaction costs, returning it with interest, using its own land and food stock as collateral. Starting from a very small food inventory, the economy grows for a hundred periods. The model shows the following: In Rich compared to Poor, wages are higher and interest rates are lower; output per man-hour is higher and output per acre is lower. This unequal economy is less productive and slower growing than an identical equal economy. In addition, small shocks in total factor productivity can generate large fluctuations, which reduce overall productivity and growth, and fall largely on Poor.
An Economist in Havana A personal journal of three weeks in Havana in July 2015, studying Spanish at the University of Havana, and observing the economy and culture.
The Abduction of Adam Smith 2013. How a Brilliant Observer and Kindly Egalitarian Became the Symbol of Greed.
Henry George and Philip Wicksteed’s “Coordination of the Laws of Distribution” Presented at HES, 2012. In 1894, Philip Wicksteed published his seminal monograph, An Essay on the Coordination of the Laws of Distribution, which formalized and clarified concepts of marginal productivity, and introduced the constant returns (linear homogeneous) model under which, when all factors earn their marginal products, they exhaust the total product. Wicksteed’s title surely reflects the chapter in Henry George’s Progress and Poverty on “The Correlation and Co-ordination of the Laws of Distribution”. However, the Essay does not mention George or the classical economists notably Ricardo. It explicitly rejects the classical division of factors into land, labor and capital–laying the foundation of modern neoclassical economics in which all factors are symmetrical so we might as well just use two, capital and labor. Finally, Wicksteed conflates two meanings of the word “surplus”, to claim there exists no taxable rent.
Cooperation, Competition and Economic Rent: A Natural History Perspective. Presented at EEA 2006.
All species cooperate, generating a shared surplus, or economic rent. Rent provokes competition between groups and between individuals within groups for a greater share of the rent. Competition in turn both dissipates rent and spurs innovation. Among territorial species, holders of superior territories have incentives to practice “imperialism”-controlling larger territories than necessary. Among non-territorial species, intense competition may promote rapid speciation..
Distribution, Productivity and Growth Presented at EEA 2003.
Simulation model of an agricultural economy with 5 classes, ranging from large landlords to landless peasants. As distribution of land ranges from equal to highly unequal, income becomes more unequal and wages and output fall.
Equality, Productivity and Growth 1981, revised 1994.
Popular article on why greater equality is good for economic productivity and growth.
Unequal Distribution as a Cause of Market Failure–Are Land Taxes the Remedy? Giannini Foundation Working Paper No. 721, 1994.
Land taxes reduce market failure caused by unequal distribution of land holdings. Output taxes aggravate market failure.
Taxes, Land Values, Wages, and the Economic Margin: Effects on Banking of a Shift to Land Taxes Presented at American Institute for Economic Research, 1994.
A revenue-neutral shift of taxes to land taxes will increase central land values but lower peripheral land values. Output will increase, as will wage rates and wage income.
Differences Between Large and Small Firms: Application to Oil Leasing Policy 1977.
Large firms have a comparative advantage in undertakings that are more capital-intensive undertakings; small firms in more labor-intensive. Current leasing policies favor large firms; different policies could give greater opportunity to small firms. (The logic applies equally to broadcast licences.)