Progress and Poverty, Volumes I and II / An Inquiry into the Cause of Industrial Depressions and of Increase of Want with Increase of Wealth

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Gutenberg ID

55308

Title

Progress and Poverty, Volumes I and II / An Inquiry into the Cause of Industrial Depressions and of Increase of Want with Increase of Wealth

Language

en

Book source

Project Gutenberg

Description max 80 words

Henry George's seminal work investigates the paradox of rising wealth alongside persistent poverty, arguing that industrial depressions stem from land monopoly rather than lack of capital. The text proposes a radical remedy: making land common property to ensure equitable distribution and social justice.

Summary up to 500 words

In *Progress and Poverty*, Henry George challenges the prevailing economic theories of his era, specifically those of the Ricardian school and John Stuart Mill. He dismantles the axiom that laborers must be maintained by past capital, arguing instead that subsistence comes from contemporaneous production. George illustrates that even in a city like London, where vast wealth is hoarded, the daily survival of the population depends entirely on the current labor of producers, not on stored capital. He asserts that individuals rightly own their labor and its products, but no one possesses a natural right to the exclusive ownership of land itself. George identifies the root cause of poverty and industrial depression as the private ownership of land. This institution allows landlords to capture the 'unearned increment'—the increase in land value generated by societal progress, population growth, and public improvements—rather than by the landlord's own effort. Consequently, wealth inequality is not a result of individual failings but of an unjust institution that forces wages down while productive power rises. The work explores the historical and ethical dimensions of land tenure, contrasting the rights of labor with the monopolistic claims of landlords. George argues that true social progress requires the common ownership of land. He proposes a single, practical remedy: the abolition of private property in land through a single tax on land value. He contends that this measure would eliminate poverty, raise wages to their full value, and align economic laws with justice. By making land common property, the fruits of civilization would benefit all rather than a privileged few, ensuring that the laws of the universe support cooperation and equality rather than inequality and want.

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Categories

• Politics
• Economics