Fred Harrison's thesis is that land speculation is the major cause of
depressions. He shows how the land market functions as a junction box
which regulates the power flowing between Labour and Capital, and how
land speculation periodically throws the switches on the productive
power of men and machines, causing economic stagnation. This theory was
acknowledged by philosophers such as Adam Smith and Karl Marx, and
social reformers ranging from Winston Churchill to Leo Tolstoy, but it
has been forgotten by today's economists and policy-makers. The
hypothesis is tested against the historical facts and the recent booms
and slumps, and is found to offer a powerful explanation for postwar
trends in unemployment and the distribution of income.