Kevin Carson wrote:
> I think the
> absentee ownership of land seriously exacerbates economic rent in urban
> areas. If the tenants (not only apartment dwellers, but small business
> people) of slumlords, real estate speculators, etc., ceased to pay rent, and
> if vacant lots could be homesteaded by the first occupier, that would be a
> massive change for the better, even if occupants were able to draw unearned
> benefits from advantage of site.
What about the effect of this on the incentive to develop and build in
the first place? Not to mention the incentive to relocate?
A nice way to eliminate "unearned benefits" is to eliminate the
existence of benefits.
--
Prof. Bryan Caplan
Department of Economics George Mason University
http://www.bcaplan.com [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"He wrote a letter, but did not post it because he felt that no one
would have understood what he wanted to say, and besides it was not
necessary that anyone but himself should understand it."
Leo Tolstoy, *The Cossacks*
