First published in 1879, Progress and Poverty is the ground-breaking treatise on the relationship between industrialization and poverty by Henry George, the American social theorist and economist. A huge commercial success when it was published and one of the best-selling books in America in the late 19th century, George's work had a profound influence on economists, politicians, and social reformers all over the world. In Progress and Poverty, George attempted to understand why the technical and economic progress of the Industrial Age was so often accompanied by increases in poverty and human suffering. These boom and bust cycles in the economy had devastating impacts on countless numbers of people and George sought to find better solutions to these pressing problems. The solution that he proposed was radical at the time: a tax on land so that the value of private property could protect the most vulnerable from the fluctuations in the larger economy. Many of his ideas were instrumental to a new progressive social movement and have been adopted by several countries in the century since his work was first published. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.
Born in 1839, Henry George learned about poverty early in life, first as a boy-sailor and afterwards by working as a type-setter with a wife and children to support. A talented writer, he gradually rose to become managing editor of the San Francisco Times, and later set up his own crusading journal, the San Francisco Daily Evening Post, only to see his newspaper crushed by the combined power of the press and telegraphic monopolies. Undaunted, George set himself the task of explaining a universal economic conundrum - why does a country's increasing prosperity always result in the most abject poverty for the lowest strata of society? Untrained in economics, he came to the subject with fresh eyes: I had no theory to support, no conclusions to prove. Only, when I first realized the squalid misery of a great city, it appalled and tormented me, and would not let me rest, for thinking of what caused it and how it could be cured.
The result of this enquiry was published in 1879 as Progress and Poverty. It rejected many of the prevailing political-economic theories, and claimed a natural alliance between worker and capitalist. Using clear, reasoned arguments Henry George was able to show that the real villain of the piece was the rentier, the landowner who (unlike labour or capital), contributed nothing to the production of wealth but who was able to take the lion's share from increased rents as a city grew - because land became more valuable.
This then, was the source of increasing poverty in an increasingly wealthy society: When non-producers can claim as rent a portion of the wealth created by producers, the right of the producers to the fruits of their labor is to that extent denied. There is no escape from this position.
He then proposed the revolutionary idea of abolishing all present taxes (which he saw, quite rightly, as an imposition on the productive sector) and replacing it with a tax on land. Progress and Poverty caused a sensation, selling well over 3 million copies and winning praise from such great minds as Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Leo Tolstoy and Sun Yat-sen. American Philosopher John Dewey wrote that unless one was acquainted with Henry George's ideas No man, no graduate of a higher educational institution, has a right to regard himself as an educated man in social thought... This book is required reading for all those worried by the increasing disparity of wealth in modern society, and will open up a new vista of possible solutions.
Progress and Poverty is not so much a book as an event. The life and thought of no one capable of understanding it can be quite the same after reading it.
- Emma Lazarus
In this landmark text, Henry George lays out his study of questions of why poverty partners with economic and technological progress. His theory of single land tax proposed in this book was so influential it spurred progressive economic reform.
Henry George was an American political economist and journalist. His 1879 work Progress and Poverty explored the paradox of increasing poverty and inequality amongst economic progress. He looked into the causes of industrial depressions and focused his efforts on anti-monopoly reforms to remedy economic and social problems by introducing his solution: a single land tax.
Volumes within this book include:Highly influential in its time and admired by many intellectual contemporaries, Progress and Poverty was a founding text in Georgist ideology. Republished by Read & Co. Books, it is an essential read for those looking to learn more about the critical economic theories and social reforms throughout history.
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.