The Land Trap: A New History of the World's Oldest Asset

by Mike Bird

This is the story of the world's oldest asset and how it has sparked revolutions, fuelled huge economic booms, led to the worst financial crises in history, and still poses the greatest risks to our prosperity today.

Land is a unique resource, ungoverned by the laws of supply and it cannot be produced, its supply is fixed and it does not decay.

In this sweeping and vivid history, journalist for The Economist and podcaster Mike Bird places land at the epicentre of the global economy, and contemporary business, politics, and history. The tumultuous narrative of land as an asset takes us to ancient Babylon, seventeenth-century colonial America and modern China's gargantuan property bubble. It shows how land came to hold the central role in the global banking system, as well as in the finances of ordinary households and businesses around the world.

The Land Trap reveals that our most ancient asset remains to this day the hidden factor determining economic failure and success - for individuals, companies and entire nations.

Genres: Economics, History, Nonfiction, Business, Politics, Finance, Audiobook

336 pages, Hardcover

Published November 4, 2025

Reviews

[Pete · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Land Trap (2025) by Mike Bird is an excellent exploration of how important the ownership of land has been throughout history. Bird is an editor and writer for The Economist who writes about Asian Business. He lives in Singapore and has a penchant for chapters of similar length.

The book starts with records about land transactions from ancient Mesopotamia, which shows that land has been a critical asset for all of human history. As soon as there was writing, there was writing about land ownership. Bird describes how land is different from other assets, it’s fixed, there is little new land made and it is extremely long lived. He also describes how these properties have led financial systems to be keyed into land. Today in Britain and the US more than 60% of loans are mortgages for land. It’s estimated that land is about 35% of all real wealth globally today.

The book then jumps forward to the colonisation and independence of The United States of America. Bird writes about William Potter, an early economist who argued that there was not enough money around and that instead of precious metals backing money instead land should be used. In Britain at the time this was not possible as so much land was held feudally. However in the new US this could be done. This greatly helped the development of the US.

Bird then moves forward to write about Henry George and his role in popularising land tax. The book points out that George’s ideas had been made for at least a century. The physiocrats in France and Adam Smith and David Ricardo had also advocated land tax. George’s ideas spread to Europe and also influenced others like Kerensky and Sun Yat-Sen. The Georgists also interacted with the Marxists.

The book then describes how people have moved to cities and how agricultural land has declined in importance. However in developing countries the ownership of agricultural land was still critical. Wolf Ladejinsky was an agricultural economist born in what is now Ukraine in 1899. Ladejinsky had seen how important land reform for peasants was. He thought that the Communist revolution could have been prevented had there been serious farm land reform in Russia. He moved to the US in 1920 and became an agricultural economist there. Ladejinsky had researched how uneven farm land ownership was in Japan. After World War Two he moved there and pushed land reform for Japanese farms to combat the threat of Communism there. General MacArthur was sympathetic to Ladejinsky’s ideas as he’d seen how unequal land ownership was in the Philippines was when his father was military governor there. Ladejinsky’s program changed farm ownership so that 62% owned their land by 1950, up from 37% in 1945. This massive reform empowered Japanese farmers. In Korea and Taiwan similar reforms were undertaken. In Taiwan the Kuomintang (KMT) arrived without much rural support. Sun Yat-Sen, the nationalist who had led China believed in Henry George’s ideas had inspired the KMT. Joe Studwell’s book on Asia emphasize the importance of these reforms for building prosperity in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

Bird then describes how land has become an increasingly important base for finance. The way in which McDonald’s works as a real estate company is fascinating. Real estate is also used as collateral for many small businesses, including McDonald’s when Ray Croc expanded it. Even today’s hi-tech giants have tens of billions of dollars worth of land. But lands importance to the financial sector also leads to huge booms and busts. The explosive growth and then decline of land values led to the Global Financial Crisis in 2007.

The role of land in the boom and bust of Japan is remarkable. As Japan grew economically land was a crucial part of the success. But the bubble in Japanese land deeply damaged the Japanese economy, cause decades of slow growth. Bird goes on to describe how something similar is happening in China on an even greater scale. Hopefully it will turn out differently.

Bird contrasts the Chinese and Japanese real estate bubbles with Singapore’s radical approach where most land was seized by the government and all citizens are given the opportunity to buy a government flat with a restricted title. It’s worked really well there. This is contrasted with the incredible price of real estate in Hong Kong and the concentration of ownership there.

Finally the book looks at how real estate across the English speaking world has exploded in value and is causing problems in many countries. Nicely Bird also looks at Detroit where the value of real estate has collapsed. But the deep problem of inelastic supply in successful cities like London, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Sydney, Vancouver and New York is something that countries are grappling with today. One thing that is missing from this section is a discussion of Texas and in particular Houston. Houston has no zoning and Texas uses land tax to raise funds. This combination has made Houston a city that has both grown rapidly from 4.6 million people in the metro area in 2000 to 7.8 million today while being much more affordable than most large US cities.

Another omission from the book is discussion about what will happen to real estate values in a world with declining populations. While currently much of the developed world is still growing most of that is now driven by immigration. The countries that immigrants are coming from mostly do not have high birth rates either. China has low immigration and is going to face a demographic challenge in the next few decades. How this will impact their real estate will be interesting to watch.

The book does an excellent job of linking the issues related to land ownership through history. The chapters flow nicely from one to another and Bird makes the case that land really is a different asset class that is crucial to economic success.

The book is also remarkably consistent in one area, five of the eleven chapters are exactly twenty six pages long. I’ve never noticed this in a book but the chapters were all of such a consistent length I checked in the index and lo and behold twenty six was featured five times with twenty eight twice. It’s hard not to wonder how deliberate this was, and also to enjoy how consistent it is.

The Land Trap is a really excellent book. Bird takes the reader on a journey through history and around the world to carefully make his points. The way in which land is unique and has shaped economies around the world is fascinating. Anyone interested in economics will really enjoy the book.

[Jung]

In "The Land Trap: A New History of the World’s Oldest Asset" by Mike Bird, the familiar acts of buying a home, choosing a city, or starting a business are revealed to be part of a much deeper economic story. Land is not just another investment class like stocks or bonds; it is the foundation beneath all economic activity and, at the same time, a scarce resource that no amount of innovation can multiply. Because everyone needs access to it and no one can create more of it, land quietly shapes who becomes wealthy, who is left behind, and why entire economies rise and fall. Once this is understood, patterns that once seemed mysterious - soaring housing costs, recurring financial crises, and the growing gap between asset owners and renters - begin to make sense as outcomes of how societies treat land.

For most of human history, land represented power and security because it was the basis of food, shelter, and production. Long before modern finance, ownership of land defined status and survival. What changed in the modern era was not land’s importance, but the way it was transformed into a financial instrument. Because land is immovable, visible, and legally recorded, it became the perfect form of collateral. Banks could safely lend against it, confident that if borrowers failed, the property could be seized and sold. This turned land into the backbone of credit systems. The ability to borrow against rising property values allowed owners to invest, expand businesses, and accumulate even more wealth, while those without property were locked out of this virtuous circle. Over time, this dynamic magnified inequality, as landowners benefited not only from income but from ever-increasing asset values that could be leveraged again and again.

The decisive step that linked land to modern money systems occurred most clearly in early America. In a world short of coins and cash, colonists discovered that land itself could be used to generate currency. By issuing loans backed by property, banks effectively created money from the ground. This innovation unleashed growth, allowing farmers and entrepreneurs to invest and trade. Unlike in Europe, where land was tied to aristocratic lineage and tradition, the New World treated it as a fully tradable asset. It could be bought, sold, mortgaged, and speculated on. This flexibility helped build a dynamic economy, but it also planted the seeds of instability. Once credit and prosperity became dependent on rising land values, downturns in property markets threatened the entire financial system.

As economies developed, a repeating cycle emerged. Credit flowed easily when property prices rose, encouraging construction, consumption, and optimism. Higher productivity and population growth pushed rents and land values even further upward, rewarding owners rather than workers. Investors then entered the market, not to use land productively, but to profit from its appreciation. Borrowing increased, speculation intensified, and ever more capital was diverted into real estate rather than into innovation, industry, or skills. This is the essence of what Bird describes as the land trap: an economy begins to rely on rising land prices as a source of growth, even though land itself produces nothing. When too much wealth is tied to a fixed resource, expansion becomes an illusion built on leverage.

Eventually, the imbalance becomes unsustainable. As rents and housing costs climb, households and firms spend more just to secure space, leaving less for consumption and investment. Debt mounts as people borrow to keep up. Banks, heavily exposed to property, become vulnerable. When prices finally stop rising or begin to fall, confidence collapses. Loans turn sour, construction stalls, and credit dries up, pulling healthy businesses down with speculative ones. History offers many examples of this pattern, from early American land booms to Japan’s property bubble in the late twentieth century and the global financial crisis triggered by mortgage markets in 2008. Each case shows how dependence on land appreciation can transform prosperity into prolonged stagnation.

The social consequences are just as severe. Rising land values enrich those who already own property while making entry increasingly difficult for younger generations and newcomers. Wealth becomes concentrated not because of greater productivity or innovation, but because of control over scarce locations. At the same time, falling land values threaten financial stability, since banks and governments have built their balance sheets on the assumption that property is a safe store of value. Policymakers then face painful choices: allow prices to fall and risk financial collapse, or prop them up and entrench inequality. Either way, someone bears the cost, which is why escaping a land-driven system is politically and economically fraught.

Yet Bird also shows that the land trap is not inevitable. Different institutional choices can lead to different outcomes. Places that treat rising land values as private windfalls tend to encourage speculation and hoarding, drawing capital away from productive uses. By contrast, systems that capture a share of land’s unearned increase for the public - through taxes, leases, or public ownership - can recycle that value into infrastructure, housing, and lower taxes on work and enterprise. When the gains from location and development are shared, land becomes a stable platform rather than a speculative casino. Capital is then more likely to flow into innovation and industry instead of endlessly bidding up the same plots of ground.

The broader lesson is that land is not merely another commodity but a fundamental input into all economic life. Treating it as a vehicle for easy wealth distorts incentives, fuels inequality, and sets the stage for recurrent crises. Treating it as shared economic ground, whose rising value reflects collective effort and public investment, creates the possibility of more balanced and resilient growth. The challenge lies in redesigning policies so that land supports prosperity instead of undermining it.

In conclusion, "The Land Trap: A New History of the World’s Oldest Asset" by Mike Bird argues that the roots of many modern economic problems lie beneath our feet. By turning land into the primary collateral of the financial system and a favored object of speculation, societies have tied growth to an asset that cannot expand, ensuring cycles of boom, bust, and widening inequality. Real and lasting prosperity, the book suggests, comes not from endlessly inflating property values but from recognizing land as a shared foundation, capturing its rising worth for the common good, and directing investment toward productive activity rather than toward the passive ownership of space.

[Logan Kedzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is an interesting take on many contemporary and historical problems, even if never being a take on them.

This book is about the treatment of land as an asset. It looks at different regulatory and fiscal schemes throughout history around land. The trap of the title is the way that financialization of land, where the leverage it can provide, usually through using it for private lending, is something that first enables economic growth, then creates limits on it, or more to the point producing less desirable results.

That last bit is one of the weaknesses of the book. There is a lot of policy without policy, where the text discusses the negative outcomes without stopping to consider the rationales behind those negative policies. This is a minor ding because they can operate in an unstated manner – we get it that people need housing – but there are analytic dimensions here where if you do not take conventional wisdom as assumed, you receive interesting results. Not an example, but in similar form, is how the author yadda yaddas over Colonialism. It works to focus the scope of the text, but there is some points of wondering whether bugs are meant as features.

This is far from polemic, and acknowledges the lack of easy solutions, as well as the problems inherent in the solutions that exist. It gives well-deserved focus to Wolf Ladejinsky, and economist who may deserve a lot more credit for economic prosperity than he gets.

[Alexandre · Rating 5 out of 5]

land value tax would fix this.

a terra importa, muito. a terra não pode ser deslocada de um sítio para outro, não decresce em valor e é indispensável. a partir daqui, faria sentido comoditizar terrenos e usá-los como a base da nossa economia, certo? certo, pelo menos até que o valor desses terrenos aumente ao ponto da bolha especulativa rebentar, as pessoas não consigam pagar a renda, os negócios fechem, o valor dos terrenos caia, os bancos entrem em falência, etc. essa é a armadilha que dá o título ao livro e o cilindro de dinamite com pavio curto debaixo do qual as nossas vidas estão situadas, sem exceção.

a armadilha parece impossível de evitar, visto que dos estados unidos, ao japão e mesmo à china, a tentação de colar o crescimento económico ao preço dos terrenos tem sido demasiado apelativa. a exceção, como era expectável, é singapura: mais de 80% da habitação está nas mãos do estado, permitindo elevadas taxas de propriedade de imóveis residenciais e canalizando fundos para setores realmente produtivos. a solução para nós no ocidente, implica o livro, não requer necessariamente o autoritarismo vigente em singapura, mas sim uma reorganização da carga fiscal: menos impostos sob rendimentos e empresas, mais impostos sobre o valor dos terrenos.

uma crítica melhorzita de quem percebe mais da coisa que eu:
https://progressandpoverty.substack.c...

[Reed Schwartz · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a better world, this is the book that every moderate donor decides will defeat right-wing populism. (In this world Matthew is re-titled as the "land de-trapping coordinator".)

[Ashish Basetty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book, definitely the most informative and entertaining book I've read this year. Mike Bird walks the reader through the history of land as a financial asset over the last 400 years, including its widespread implications today. Crucially, he specifies the unique properties of land: finite supply, non-fungibility, and lack of depreciation, and its enormous implications for economies throughout history.

His engaging writing walks us through the ideas of innovators in the use of land, including George Washington, Henry George, Ray Kroc, and Deng Xiaoping, providing a human lens to a somewhat abstract financial concept. Land's unique role as a massive source of capital and value to both housing and production, hav made it intrinsically tied to economic booms and busts since the colonial era. I was also impressed by the sheer variety of ways societies have handled land, including feudal aristocracies, communist states, unfettered free market capitalism, Singapore, Hong Kong, and nations recovering from WWII.

One of his key propositions is the "land trap": the lose-lose situation created by the overfinancialization and exposure to risk in land. Land's unique non-depreciating attribute makes it a stable source of investment and perfect collateral, providing a major boost to growing economies and allowing landowners to use a new source of stable collateral to fund borrowing. However, as its value grows it leads to a widening wealth disparity, suppression of innovation and investment outside real estate, and government reliance on property tax/sale revenues. When its value inevitably crashes in an economy built around its ever-growing value, this leads to financial catastrophe for landholding companies and a focus on debt repayment rather than growth. The book ended with some interesting takeaways regarding our modern housing crisis and the unique state of the developed world, stuck within the "land trap" with no easy way out.

[Chase Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dense text meant those deeply interested in land use economics and its history. If that’s you then you’ll love it as I did.

[Brent Moulton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Land is the world's most valuable single asset, representing 35 percent of total real wealth on earth. Mike Bird's book combines three perspectives—history, economics, and finance—to examine the continuing centrality of land to the economy, even while traditional agricultural land has diminished in importance and intangible property in the form of intellectual property has become a growing share of wealth.

Bird describes the "land trap" as the following dilemma: "When prices rise, prolonged credit booms follow, giving greater and greater resources to landowners and depriving resources from those who own little of the world’s oldest asset. But when prices fall, the sudden evaporation of credit can be worse than painful—it can be catastrophic, leading not just to a financial crisis but years, even decades, of seemingly irreversible economic stagnation." He examines examples of the effects of this land trap in countries ranging from the United States to Japan and China.

I started the book thinking that I, as an economist, already knew a lot about land, so I wasn't sure how much I would learn. It turned out that I learned a lot. I learned about diverse topics such as post-World War II agricultural land reforms and the land and housing policies of the nation of Singapore. But even in the sections discussing land policy in the United States, I learned a lot. Reading the book, which was written in a lively style, was a real pleasure.

My only complaint is that I sometimes wished the author had slowed the pace of his narrative a bit to provide more explanation, for example, of the implications of different institutional arrangements in places like Hong Kong and Singapore, or of the criticisms that economists have made of Henry George's single tax policy. But overall, it was an interesting and informative book and gave me a greater appreciation of the challenges created by a booming (or busting) land market.

[Anusha Datar · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book explores the role of land in the broader economy. Bird discusses the early foundations of land ownership and the ways that the real estate business have changed over time. He mainly focuses on the history, politics, and economics of land ownership in the Untied States, starting with initial speculative land grabs by colonial settlers and working towards discussions of contemporary issues regarding housing security and real estate pricing. He also focuses on a few individual nations that serve as object lessons about larger trends.

While I appreciated learning the information I did in this book, the scope felt a bit limited and scattered. Bird focuses primarily on historical foundations of land ownership in Europe and the US, and then he also does case studies into a few East Asian nations. While it of course would be too much to expect him to cover the whole world and all philosophies of land ownership, the examples feel too cherry-picked and scattered for something that claims to be sweeping and global.

[Joseph Lawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a nutshell, the land trap is this: the financialization of land generates great wealth for landowners,. Potentially, for a limited time it generates great economic growth too. But it also leads to inequality, and the unfairness of individual wealth and poverty that has no correspondence to achievement or productivity. In the end, it will stifle growth. Bird's book demonstrates this clearly, with examples from America, Britain and East Asia.
What is the way out of the land trap?
This is a little less clear in Bird's book. He approves of Henry George and Singapore. But it is not always clear what else he considers a useful remedy to the land trap. Contrasting George and those who have tried to promote 'property owning democracies', in the context of the UK and America he seems to think the schemes to promote the latter only postpone the misery. But he is positive also about East Asian land reforms in the aftermath of the Second World War, which embodied more of a 'property owning democracy' spirit than an implementation of George's prescriptions.

[A A · Rating 5 out of 5]

While there were moments during this book where I felt like I was back in a 7:00 AM college lecture, squinting at property tax charts and wondering if I’d accidentally signed up for a How to be a Civil Servant certification and dry in places, like forgot to drink water for three hours dry, but given that the topic is literally dirt, Mike Bird deserves a trophy for making it as engaging as he did.

The highlight for me was the deep dive into Singapore. The analysis of how they turned a tiny, resource-strapped island into a global powerhouse through ruthless land efficiency was fascinating. It makes you look at every other city’s zoning laws and just sigh. Bird’s breakdown of the Singaporean model is worth the cover price alone. It’s the ultimate work smarter, not harder story of geopolitics.

The Verdict: Come for the promise of understanding why your rent is so high; stay for the masterclass on Singaporean land policy. Just bring a large coffee for the chapters on historical deed transfers. It’s dense, it’s brilliant, and it’s one of the more interesting book about assets I’ve read.

[その人 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. A sharp reminder that land is an asset unlike any other, and one that mainstream economics often underweights. The book shows how land policy can shape state survival (South Korea vs. South Vietnam), prosperity (Japan), and everyday life (Singapore vs. Hong Kong).

It’s impressively broad, ranging from colonial America to Evergrande, yet it stays focused on the core idea: land sits at the intersection of law, finance, and political incentives. I especially enjoyed the comparative treatment of Asian housing “gateway cities,” along with the discussion of Georgism and the real world constraints that block it (mass homeownership as a political project, plus the GDP and tax “addiction” that real estate can create).

I learned a ton, from Ladjinski to how Hong Kong finances its government. Highly recommended if you like the law, finance, and policy nexus behind housing and political economy.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this in a small book club!! Fascinating history that taught me about the work of important figures, including Lloyd George (popularized the land value tax idea), Wolf Ladejinsky (implemented land reform in several Asian countries, including Japan and Taiwan), and Stamford Raffles (created a system to lease land for annual rent from the government). This book taught me about economic development in Japan, China, Hong Kong, and Singapore. I'm looking forward to building on these topics!

Two critiques: I agree with our book club + other reviewers in that (a) the contribution of slavery to colonial America's land values gets glossed over, and (b) I wish Bird explained why certain policies were implemented.

[Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, far from exceptional.

One of those books that’s obviously written by a journalist. Endlessly fascinated by anecdotes, not at all concerned with mechanics, and tremendously cautious.

There are a lot of intriguing stories in here so I’d still recommend the book, but icks include: Excessive glorification of Georgism, praise for Singapore land system without praise for land nationalization, lack of discussion on why China isn’t as debilitated by its land bubble popping as compared to US

[Richard Marney · Rating 4 out of 5]

A worthwhile read! The Land Trap argues that rising land values—driven by urbanization, financialization, and policy distortions—are increasingly acting as a drag on economic growth, productivity, and social cohesion. Bird contends that modern economies are falling into a “land trap” where wealth accumulation is driven less by productive investment and more by land speculation and rent extraction.

[Tony Huo · Rating 4 out of 5]

- Georgeism defeated by mass homeownership
- land reform undermined by green revolution/industrial farming
- using land as collateral for further investment is critical for capitalism
- HK vs Singapore land policies
- HK needs to raise more revenue from land, but this fueled land speculation
- Singapore has higher homeownership rate and lower cost

[Nicola Waters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read - i was sufficiently absorbed that I read most of it in one sitting. The biggest takeaway I think is, if governments don’t handle the unique thing that land wealth is properly from the get go, incredibly hard to fix things after the fact.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting and incomplete-feeling mixture of viewpoints without as much direction as I'd like. What history is here is quite interesting -- and I do wish it included more examples from a more diverse collection of historical eras, spaces, and places.

[September Withers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mike Bird’s The Land Trap is a gripping exploration of land as the world’s oldest and most powerful asset. From colonial land grabs to modern real estate crises, it shows how land shapes economies, politics, and lives.

[Brendan Hughes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was a solid read for those looking to learn more about the history of land as an asset, coupled with various political implications of land ownership. I thought the case studies on China and Singapore were particularly interesting.

[Jeffrey Asselin · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the few history books I blazed through quickly. Easy to follow, has a clear perspective, well sourced. I learned many new things about other countries and their land policies and how that has shaped modern markets and the likely ongoing pitfalls ahead. Great book and well done, Mike Bird !!

[Victor Saumarez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting Read

Some thought provoking facts and a timely publication. We often think of real estate values as the buildings and not the land they sit on. Disentangling the two is difficult given the current methodology for valuation.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book felt a little scattered. It jumped around a lot and the topics explored were a little all over the shop (from a history of Henry George to case studies of Asian countries). It weakened the central argument and ultimately didn’t teach much.

[Daniel Bragen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit wishy-washy in some chapters but otherwise compelling. I recommend if someone is interested in land use broadly.

[Alex Gravina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basically a history of Georgeism and property taxation. I found it very interesting given my interest in economic history and property

[Cameron Gordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent read on one of the most pressing and universal policy issues today. Sticks the Land-ing.

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating read that changed my perspective on the world and the economics that govern it. I never thought a book about land tax could be such a page-turner.

[Tuesday Gloom · Rating 5 out of 5]

digestible writing, extremely thought provoking, thoroughly cited.

a great perspective on how land can unlock your economy even as it creates inequality, landlord classes, booms and busts

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great storytelling about how land has shaped countries and cities, and the challenges it creates

[Noor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Land is an even bigger deal than you thought