We’re All Caught in the Land Trap
Jacobin sat down with the Economist’s Mike Bird to talk about his new book The Land Trap, on why land retains its centrality in our economy even into the digital age — and how land ownership cements existing inequalities.
A political cartoon depicts Henry George strangling a snake that represents corruption and the spoils system in New York City Hall, circa 1886.
Land appears to be a simple matter — just location and dirt. But below the surface, it’s the most dangerous asset in the modern economy, determining the trajectory of modern wealth inequality. As the 2007–8 crisis demonstrated, land and housing are inextricably tied to the financial system. Changes in land values can send the entire global economy into a chaotic spiral, creating millions of layoffs and drastically altering the political landscape.
Mike Bird’s new book, The Land Trap: A New History of the World’s Oldest Asset, reveals land’s unique traits and its essential role in political history. In it, he explains how so many countries have fallen into “the land trap,” a situation where both increases and decreases in land values can have devastating economic impacts.
Bird spoke to Jacobin about the pernicious entanglement of land and finance, Singapore’s mass expropriation of landowners, and the forgotten legacy of the anti-landowner populist, Henry George.
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