Dwarkesh Podcast

Lars Doucet - Progress, Poverty, Georgism, & Why Rent is Too Damn High

Jan 9, 2023

Lars Doucet, author of "Land is a Big Deal" and game developer, dives into the concept of Georgism and its societal implications. He discusses why poverty persists even in wealthy areas and how landowners profit at the expense of labor. Lars argues for a land value tax, which could alleviate speculation and tax burdens. From parallels between virtual economies and real estate to the role of land reform in Asia's productivity, his insights challenge traditional economic views and inspire new thoughts on value creation and ownership.

01:40:23

Creator website

Episode guests

Lars Doucet

Highlights

AI Chapters

Episode notes

That Land is a Big Deal

01:25

Urban Agglomeration concept - Abundance Mindset vs. Scarcity Mindset in Land Expansion

02:14

Pushback to Georgism: wrecking the banking sector

01:16

Intro

3min

Rent-Seeking in Virtual Economies

21min

The Complexities of Land Value Taxation

22min

Exploring Land Reform and Agricultural Productivity

3min

Rethinking Taxation: The Case for Land Value Tax

8min

Navigating Property Tax Reform

12min

Exploring Mineral Rights and Georgism

16min

Rethinking Land Value Taxation

8min

Exploring Rent Collection and Community Governance

5min

10.

Transformative Insights on Land Value and Economics

3min

One of my best episodes ever. Lars Doucet is the author of Land is a Big Deal, a book about Georgism which has been praised by Vitalik Buterin, Scott Alexander, and Noah Smith. Sam Altman is the lead investor in his new startup, ValueBase.

Talking with Lars completely changed how I think about who creates value in the world and who leeches off it.

We go deep into the weeds on Georgism:

* Why do even the wealthiest places in the world have poverty and homelessness, and why do rents increase as fast as wages?

* Why are land-owners able to extract the profits that rightly belong to labor and capital?

* How would taxing the value of land alleviate speculation, NIMBYism, and income and sales taxes?

Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here.

Follow Lars on Twitter. Follow me on Twitter.

Timestamps

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:01:11) - Georgism

(00:03:16) - Metaverse Housing Crises

(00:07:10) - Tax Leisure?

(00:13:53) - Speculation & Frontiers

(00:24:33) - Social Value of Search

(00:33:13) - Will Georgism Destroy The Economy?

(00:38:51) - The Economics of San Francisco

(00:43:31) - Transfer from Landowners to Google?

(00:46:47) - Asian Tigers and Land Reform

(00:51:19) - Libertarian Georgism

(00:55:42) - Crypto

(00:57:16) - Transitioning to Georgism

(01:02:56) - Lars's Startup & Land Assessment

(01:15:12) - Big Tech

(01:20:50) - Space

(01:23:05) - Copyright

(01:25:02) - Politics of Georgism

(01:33:10) - Someone Is Always Collecting Rents

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