What do you think?
Rate this book
The Land Trap: A New History of the World's Oldest Asset
How the world’s oldest asset secretly shapes our modern economy
In The Land Trap, Mike Bird—Wall Street editor at The Economist—reveals how this ancient asset still exerts outsize influence over the modern world. From the speculative land grabs of colonial America to China's real estate crisis today, Bird shows how fortunes are built—and destroyed—on the bedrock of land.
Tracing three centuries of history, Bird explores how land quietly became the linchpin of the global banking system, driving everything from soaring housing prices to rising geopolitical tensisons. As governments wrestle with inequality and land grows ever scarcer, The Land Trap offers a powerful new framework for understanding the hidden force behind today's most urgent challenges.
This is the book for anyone who wants to see beyond markets and money to the real game being played on a foundation as old as civilization itself. Timely, provocative, and essential, The Land Trap will change how you see the ground beneath your feet.
In The Land Trap, Mike Bird—Wall Street editor at The Economist—reveals how this ancient asset still exerts outsize influence over the modern world. From the speculative land grabs of colonial America to China's real estate crisis today, Bird shows how fortunes are built—and destroyed—on the bedrock of land.
Tracing three centuries of history, Bird explores how land quietly became the linchpin of the global banking system, driving everything from soaring housing prices to rising geopolitical tensisons. As governments wrestle with inequality and land grows ever scarcer, The Land Trap offers a powerful new framework for understanding the hidden force behind today's most urgent challenges.
This is the book for anyone who wants to see beyond markets and money to the real game being played on a foundation as old as civilization itself. Timely, provocative, and essential, The Land Trap will change how you see the ground beneath your feet.
333 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 4, 2025
124 people are currently reading
1649 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 9, 2025
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.
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.
December 2, 2025
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...
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...
November 14, 2025
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.
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.
November 27, 2025
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".)
December 23, 2025
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.
December 27, 2025
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.
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.
December 20, 2025
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.
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.
November 17, 2025
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.
November 25, 2025
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.
December 16, 2025
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.
November 30, 2025
A bit wishy-washy in some chapters but otherwise compelling. I recommend if someone is interested in land use broadly.
December 2, 2025
Basically a history of Georgeism and property taxation. I found it very interesting given my interest in economic history and property
December 24, 2025
An excellent read on one of the most pressing and universal policy issues today. Sticks the Land-ing.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews