Like most people in the 21st century, until recently I had never even heard of this book or its author, so I was surprised to learn that for a decade it was the most widely read book outside of the bible, and that Henry George was considered one of the most significant Americans in history.
It seemed strange that a book praised by figures including Churchill, Tolstoy and Einstein, and that was credited with sparking a global reform moment, was so unknown today. So I decided to read it to see what all the fuss was about.
It delivered big time. The mystery is not that it was so big then, it's that it isn't bigger now.
Progress and Poverty is a work of political economy which aims to answer the question of why poverty persists despite enormous technological and economic progress. Despite being from 1879 it feels shockingly relevant to today and it's central argument still rings true.
The crux of the book's thesis is that any growth in productivity is absorbed by land values, allowing owners to charge higher rents and leaving non-owners no better off. This means extreme inequality is the natural result of the private ownership of land and the only way to truly cure poverty is by redistributing land rents with a land value tax.
Reading it can be heavy going at times as Henry George dedicates a lot of time to debunking work by contemporary economists, which can feel a little dated now. He's also very thorough in laying out his argument. Sometimes it feels like he's labouring a point for the sake of it but ultimately the argument comes together powerfully and feels stronger for how much time is spent on the foundations.
The prose is beautiful in places and the moral and economic arguments are compelling. This book completely changed the way I see the role of land in the economy and in particular how it contributes to extreme inequality. I can see why it sparked a movement and birthed the ideology of "Georgism"
In summary, Einstein said it best: "Men like Henry George are rare unfortunately. One cannot imagine a more beautiful combination of intellectual keenness, artistic form and fervent love of justice. Every line is written as if for our generation. The spread of these works is a really deserving cause"
by middleofaldi