The Essence of Progress and Poverty

by Henry George, John Dewey (Foreword)

In this concise text, the distinguished American philosopher John Dewey compiled excerpts from the massive Progress and Poverty to provide those unfamiliar with Henry George's work with the essence of the author's thinking on economics. In his Foreword, Dewey noted, "It would require less than the fingers of the two hands to enumerate those who from Plato down rank with [George]. No man, no graduate of a higher educational institution, has a right to regard himself as an educated man in social thought unless he has some first-hand acquaintance with the theoretical contribution of this great American thinker."
Fifteen brief chapters feature passages from George's highly influential book and examine why poverty persists throughout periods of economic and technological progress as well as the basis for economic cycles of boom and bust.

Genres: Economics, Nonfiction

80 pages, Paperback

Published April 15, 2020

About the author

Henry George was an American writer, politician and political economist, who was the most influential proponent of the land value tax, also known as the "single tax" on land. He inspired the economic philosophy known as Georgism, whose main tenet is that people should own what they create, but that everything found in nature, most importantly the value of land, belongs equally to all humanity. His most famous work, Progress and Poverty (1879), is a treatise on inequality, the cyclic nature of industrialized economies, and the use of the land value tax as a remedy.

Reviews

[Wyn Achenbaum · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book, an introduction to Henry George's landmark book, "Progress and Poverty." It is an abridgement done by Professor Harry Gunnison Brown, but his introduction was somehow omitted. John Dewey, in his preface refers to that introduction.

Nevertheless, this is worth reading if you would like to see a society and economy in which all of us could prosper.

If you're familiar with Monopoly, you might be interested to know that that game is based on The Landlords Game, created to help demonstrate the ideas of Henry George. It came with 2 sets of rules, one which is similar to the Monopoly game most of us have played, and another, known as the Prosperity Rules. At any point in the game, if 2 players voted to change to those rules, the whole play of the game would shift, and the monopolies permitted under the winner-gets-all rules would dissolve and be replaced by a much less exciting game, which would model a society in which all could live in reasonable comfort.

If you don't know George's ideas, I commend them to your attention. There is a viable alternative to the wealth, income and power concentration with which we live today, and there are lots of people out there who know these ideas.

[Jack Goodacre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gives an interesting perspective on both the prevailing capitalist economic structure and desires of humans and the ways in which they are linked. Even though the original text was published in 1879, the book does well at building up concepts from simple examples, which the reader can then extrapolate and apply to themes we see in the modern day. That said however, as could be reasonably expected for a book so old, there are realities that we observe in today's world that are not fully reconcilable by some thoughts and ideas portrayed. For example, a single tax on land as to deter avarice may have been a stronger solution back when land and it's physical bounty made up the majority of civilisations wealth, however today we see huge amounts of wealth vaulted in other assets, such as commodities and equities. Land and real estate is still a massive store of wealth for the elite, I'm just not sure if taxing that alone would today be the great leveller that George put across.

Still, I think this will be a strong foundational piece of understanding as to the behaviours of individuals and economic structures, and their connections. Great food for thought 🙂

[Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What is worth more, an acre of farmland or an acre in Lincoln Park? Why? Is it the quality of the soil? The weather? Or is it the existence of people and investment around the land?

Henry George posits that this simple observation is the root of poverty in flourishing societies; a failure in tax policy (and imagination) to incentivize the proper management of land. For whom should society reward? The developer who builds apartments in a new neighborhood, or the speculator who keeps an empty lot until the time to sell is right? One is taxed (the developer) for improving the land and creating value, one is rewarded (the speculator) for merely existing around good faith actors.

This is a pretty eye-opening read. I've been a fan of Henry George for a while and finally got around to reading this abridged version of his treatise, I recommend it to anyone interested in thinking about taxation in a novel way.

[Aaron Schumacher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a 2020 version of the 1928 abridging (endorsed by John Dewey) of the 1879 original. It's enough to “see the cat”, I think, but I'm not yet convinced Georgism is “how the world could be made a good and happy place”. The single tax on land seems like a decent idea, but I'm not sure it's sufficient for Star Trek style post-scarcity utopia.

It's nice to encounter an idea that's trying to be a big solution. I don't know a good reason not to try it, apart from that those who are currently own land wouldn't like it.

[Ibrahim · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very deep and super concise book that truly boils down the essence of how our society has grown over time, the concepts of wealth, poverty, how they interact with each other and push each other further overtime
A real masterpiece
Although, it wasn't easy to read, I still enjoyed how much I've learned through it

[Trent LR · Rating 4 out of 5]

It'll take a few more reads and further digestion before I can write a meaningful review.

[Joshua Sanfridsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bättre synsätt på människor än de flesta dåtidens ekonomer. Fungerar dåligt i praktiken med hans skattesystem...