This book is a response to the fundamental questions that have
confronted the UK economy for decades which successive governments of
the right and the left have failed to deal with adequately. Some of
these questions are obvious, such as 'Why does poverty still beset a
large number of people, whilst others are grossly well-off?'; 'Why are
house prices continuously rising much faster than inflation, so that
more and more people are left without a house of their own, or are borne
down by the weight of a mortgage?'; 'Why does UK productivity remain
persistently low, despite constantly improving technology?'. Other
questions are less obvious, or are ignored through a belief that they
arise from the natural order of things, such as 'Why do the majority of
workers find themselves as employees in jobs that give them little real
sense of fulfilment?'; 'Why is there awful traffic congestion, despite
heavy expenditure on transport infrastructure?'; 'Why does the tax
system fail to bring about greater equality, despite progressive rates
of tax on incomes?'. These questions have confronted the UK economy for
decades without resolution by governments of the right or left. It is
the failure of economics, the author argues. Economists have long
asserted that three factors of production lie at the root of their
subject: land, labour and capital. Yet in the development of the subject
into theories and practical applications there has been a thorough
analysis of labour and capital but a grievous omission of the factor of
land. This is reflected in the minimal place it holds in modern
textbooks, in popular discussion and political debate. Much of the
argument about major issues, like industrial policy, the distribution of
wealth and income and government policy reverts to a polarised struggle
between two antagonists, labour and capital. The third factor, land,
hides in the background unacknowledged yet exerting a major influence on
the outcome of the whole economic process. What needs to change, the
author argues, are deeply embedded features, which have generally been
established for a very long time. They are principally the taxation
system, the land tenure system, and the banking system.
