The Henry George Program

Last November, Berkeley passed Measure U1, nicknamed the "Landlord Tax." It increased the tax rate for landlords of five or more rental units. Behind the bill was Stephen Barton, who's been working for affordable housing for decades. On the side, he's been writing about the Georgist history of Berkeley's leadership.

Tomas Piketty showed that accumulation of capital was driving modern inequality. But then a young economics student showed how scarcity of housing explains Piketty's phenomenon, not accumulation. We're joined by Professor Nic Tideman of Virginia Tech, to discuss Matthew Rognlie's influential paper.

Kedar is back to talk about mobility. We have depressed economies and cities with excess demand. Why?

Corey Smith of the San Francisco Housing Action Coalition talks about the policies and the politics to get the housing supply up to 5,000 units a year. All your favorites are here: CEQA and Prop 13. Some talk about the limits of empathy: are our land-use policies making us meaner?

We featured the libertarian transhumanist perspective of Zoltan Istvan a few weeks ago. Today, James Hughes, who couples a concern for transhumanism with a progressive attitude and a focus on economic justice.

Kedar and Mark have a conversation about Georgism, Prop 13, and why this all matters.

Zoltan Istvan ran for President on the Transhumanist party, and is now running for California Governor as a Libertarian. He proposes a Universal Basic Income, funded by the leasing of federal lands. How does this compare to the Georgist ideal of a citizen's dividend funded by land rents?

Mark Mollineaux, Jacob Schwartz-Lucas, and Edward Miller discuss the land-use policies of Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and more. How responsible is municipal ownership to land to the world-class infrastructure and vibrant economies of these cities?