MARK BRAUND is author of The Possibility of Progress. He has worked in the private, public and voluntary sectors, and spent three years as an advisor to the government of Mozambique. The book, his first, is the product of several years’ research and a deep interest in what motivates people, how individuals shape society, and the future prospects for humankind. He is a freelance writer and many of his articles have appeared on Guardian.co.uk / Comment is Free.
www.markbraund.com

In The Possibility of Progress (Shepheard-Walwyn, 2005), Mark Braund argues that conventional politics has become increasingly unable to address the concerns of ordinary people. He puts forward a genuine alternative which combines the dynamism of the free market with the ideals of socialism; a new approach to economics which promises fair shares for equal effort without threatening individual freedom.

His argument is even more pertinent five years on. Having experienced a severe economic crisis and a change in government, it has become imperative for politicians to present a solution to the social injustices we are facing.

The Labour leadership contest has now been resolved, and Ed Milliband has a fresh opportunity to choose an alternative approach to the old ways of Labour and the capitalism of the coalition. In an article for the Guardian, published online on Saturday, Braund argues that ‘If the Labour party is to have any purpose going forward, it needs to present itself as the distinctive and unique party of social justice’. The advocacy of Land Value Taxation is a way to achieve this. Andy Burnham has already come out in favour of reforming the tax system and the idea of LVT is now entering the mainstream press. It must be considered as a serious contender as an alternative to a failing system. As Braund makes clear, LVT should be adopted ‘not just as another tax and not as a quick way of plugging the deficit or raising revenue to fund a growing welfare bill. LVT should form the centrepiece of a strategy for transforming the economy so that more people have access to genuine economic opportunities.’

A Land Value Tax would seem naturally to align with Labour ideology. It ‘should be sold as a tax on unearned wealth’, and would ‘[strike] at the very foundations of elite wealth and privilege.’ It is a wholly democratic tax that would offer a solution to the problem of unequal and unfair wealth distribution.

The outcome of the Labour leadership contest, while perhaps shocking and disappointing for some, provides the party’s new helmsman with a unique opportunity. Ed Milliband should not be afraid to come out in favour of a radical alternative.

Article quoted: ‘Land Value Taxation; a Genuine Alternative’ by Mark Braund, www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree, Saturday 25th September 2010.

In the richest nation on earth, people are mired in poverty. Food is produced on a vast scale, yet families go hungry. Homeless men and women huddle in doorways of boarded-up housing. A deep-rooted cause of this inequality, the author reveals, lies in an injustice that permeates the economic system of America and the world, an injustice that is as unquestioned today as slavery once was.

‘… could go far to restore our nation’s economic health’ William J. Coyne, former Pittsburgh Congressman

‘… a workable formula that will make our natural riches a blessing for the population as a whole’ Ken Hechler, formerly White House Assistant, Congressman and West Virginia State Secretary

‘…We know it works’ Stephen R. Reed, Harrisburg Mayor, 1982-2010

Rybeck shares with the reader his discovery that how property taxes are levied is crucial to this issue. Contrary to a common belief that all taxes are necessary evils, the author distinguishes taxes that suppress the economy from those that spur well-being for individuals, business, and society at large.  He presents a strategy for gradually increasing beneficial taxes and reducing harmful ones.

His prescriptions are based both on economic theory and on examination of success stories from the United States and elsewhere where these prescriptions have been adopted.  Reaching back into history, the author finds that easy access to land and natural resources played a major role in fostering America’s early dynamic economy.  He urges wider use of land value taxation to reverse land monopoly and sky-high land prices and restore a vigorous and competitive enterprise system with opportunity for all. Though America is the case study, the remedy is applicable worldwide.

Not a technical book, the author illustrates concepts, issues, and policies through episodes from his rich life experiences in journalism and public service, giving new insights and slants on the work ethic, land speculation, the housing bubble, property rights, and legally accepted injustices.

One outcome of the Second World War, Professor Dawsey writes in his foreword to this edition, was the proposition that all human beings should enjoy certain fundamental freedoms. These were enshrined by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Since the book was first published in 1971 this endorsement has led to greater recognition of human rights in Russia, China, and many other parts of the world.

‘Andelson’s book is a courageous endeavour to renew the metaphysical foundations of natural rights‘ Russell Kirk, foreword to 1st edition

‘What strikes me as most impressive in Imputed Rights is its really profound understanding of human freedom and human rights‘ Will Herberg

In the West, Andelson argued, human rights have been an issue that are often invoked but seldom intelligently considered. Thus there have been pressure groups pushing for this, that and the other right to be recognised without considering how such a right might impinge on the freedom of others; for example the right to free expression versus the right to privacy, the right to life of the unborn child versus the mother’s choice.

Seeking to establish the ground for rights, Andelson exposed the inadequacy of the radical-humanist, utilitarian and self-realisation approaches as well as many widely held Christian approaches, and developed an original thesis.

The Story of the School of Economic Science

---

Hardback Price £19.95

• ISBN: 9780856832765
• Pages: 352pp + 24 colour plates
• Size: 234mm x 156mm

Buy this book:
Shepheard-Walwyn Store

Download a sample:

• Chapter One

Author Details:

BRIAN HODGKINSON has been a member of the School of Economic Science since 1963. Concurrently he has studied modern academic Philosophy, taking a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Balliol College, Oxford and lecturing in Philosophy at Sussex University. More recently he has taught Economics and History at St James Independent Schools, having studied and tutored these subjects within the School of Economic Science. He has published a verse translation of the Bhagavad Gita, and books on Indian Philosophy, Ancient History and Economics.

In Search of Truth presents a comprehensive story of the evolution of the School of Economic Science, now in its eighth decade. Brian Hodginkson brings his historian’s skills and philosophic insight to bear in telling it in fascinating detail.

‘It became clear to me that there was such a thing as truth, and there was such a thing as justice, and that they could be found, and being found, could be taught.’
Leon MacLaren, founder, on the origin of the School of Economic Science

The School of Economic Science was founded during the Depression years of the 1930s by Leon MacLaren, son of Labour MP Andrew MacLaren. (See the biography Standing for Justice by John Stewart). MacLaren Senior found his inspiration in the economic theories of Henry George and this was passed onto Leon, who founded the school to discuss and spread Georgist ideas.

However the school soon developed beyond economics to focus on philosophy, as it was felt that the needs of the time would be better met through a more spiritual approach. In the 1950s Leon MacLaren discovered the teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, and this new direction was reinforced by the introduction of meditation through the Maharishi, later guru to the Beatles. Further evolution came in 1965 when Leon MacLaren met the Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math, Sri Shantananda Saraswati, whose spiritual advice is expounded in a series of chapters interspersed through the book.

Under the guidance of the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta the School continued to expand its range of activities, including art, Sanskrit, music and Renaissance studies. It founded an independent school for children which, along with the School itself, has affiliated branches around the world. The School met with criticisms and controversy along the way, and the author deals with these episodes openly.

In Search of Truth helps explain why hundreds of thousands have attended courses at the School of Economic Science in the UK and around the world, and why they hold it in such high regard.

Polly Higgins, author of Eradicating Ecocide, was interviewed by Lucy Siegle of The Observer, resulting in a wonderful piece in last Sunday’s Observer Magazine which dubs her “the innovator”. Polly, described here as a law reformer, says ‘I want everybody to become a barrack-room lawyer on behalf of the planet.’ She hopes that the book will inspire people to do just that. As Siegle put it, the book ‘outlines the steps you can take towards becoming an Erin Brockovich in your own right.’ Polly tells her she ‘expects us to take the law into our own hands and help to give the planet a legal voice.’

The article, written by Lucy Siegle, appeared in The Observer Magazine on Sunday 19.09.10

Author Details:

Phillip J Anderson is Managing Director and founder of Economic Indicator Services (EIS), an economic forecasting service operating out of London and Melbourne. EIS is the world’s foremost authority in the area of business, real estate and commodity cycles. Subscribers to the service are educated to the movements of these cycles in the economy, none more important than the real estate cycle.

www.real-estate-predictions.com

Phillip J Anderson, author of The Secret Life of Real Estate and Banking, was interviewed on Sky News Business Australia’s programme Switzer (15th September 2010). Phil discusses the book, the current state of the property cycle and what this means for investors, and explains the importance of David Ricardo.

Watch the interview here.

On The Secret Life of Real Estate and Banking

‘If you think economics is boring, you haven’t met the real pirates of the Caribbean yet. Phil Anderson’s recently published book The Secret Life of Real Estate is both exciting and timely. It provides detailed insight on how the addiction to land speculation became the foundation of the United States of America.’
Prosper Australia

‘This is an exciting, important and timely work; it will sell well. Anderson has ferreted out and marshaled dozens of sources on the 18-year cycle of boom and bust in real estate, its history, its mechanics, and its dynamics. Some sources are old and neglected; some are current and neglected; but after Anderson it will be hard for macro-economists to continue neglecting them. He melds the dramatic skills of a raconteur with the industry of a scholar and the discipline of a field marshal, to keep readers wide awake while they follow and most likely accept Anderson’s take on economic history.’
Professor Mason Gaffney, University of California

The Secret Life of Real Estate and Banking

This paper examines how we might apply the Law of Rent today and the potential this can have on the provision of public services, taxation and a rational distribution of wealth.

In the paper ‘The Law of Rent – the concept’, it was suggested that if we understood the Law of Rent then the business of collecting taxes would be much easier and more efficient, and we could reduce the national debt and budget deficit in a very short time.

This paper sets out to explain how these objectives might be achieved.

The Law of Rent, as defined by the economist David Ricardo in 1809, states: ‘The rent of land is determined by the excess of its product over that which the same application can secure from the least productive land in use.’

Economic rent is a surplus – a value or a part of production that is not wholly due to labour but rather the location of where the labour takes place. A shop assistant in Oxford Street will make many more sales than an equally hard working person in Brentford High Street. The surplus production (extra sales) is solely due to the location of the store. Some plots of land are more valuable than others due to the facilities invested for the benefit of the community – transport links, etc – and the desire (and therefore competition) for businesses and individuals to occupy the best sites. M&S will pay a high rent for the benefits they receive from occupying their Marble Arch site because of the high footfall. Mr & Mrs Smith will pay a premium (estimated at £16,000) to buy a house in the catchment area of a good school.

Now we have to ask ourselves how is location value created? And who has a just claim to it? Simplicity is the key. Supposing a bombsite in central London had been held out of use from 1945 until the present day, its value would have increased a thousand fold. Yet it is the exactly the same plot in both size and position. It has not benefited society one iota. It has contributed nothing to production or the wealth of society. But it is now – even as a derelict site – worth millions. How has this value been created?

Read More …

One outcome of the Second World War, Dawsey writes in his foreword, was the proposition that all human beings should enjoy certain fundamental freedoms. These were enshrined by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Since the book was first published in 1971 this endorsement has led to greater recognition of human rights in Russia, China, and many other parts of the world.

‘Andelson’s book is a courageous endeavour to renew the metaphysical foundations of natural rights’
Russell Kirk in the foreword to the 1st edition

‘What strikes me as most impressive in Imputed Rights is its really profound understanding of human freedom and human rights’
Will Herberg

‘An outstanding service to the reading public’
American Journal of Economics and Sociology

In the West, Andelson argued, human rights have been an issue that are often invoked but seldom intelligently considered. Thus there have been pressure groups pushing for this, that and the other right to be recognised without considering how such a right might impinge on the freedom of others; for example the right to free expression versus the right to privacy, the right to life of the unborn child versus the mother’s choice.
Seeking to establish the ground for rights, Andelson exposed the inadequacy of the radical-humanist, utilitarian and self-realisation approaches as well as many widely held Christian approaches, and developed an original thesis.

Eradicating Ecocide is published on 9th September to coincide with our London Book Launch this evening.

Polly Higgins sets out to demonstrate how our planet is fast being destroyed by the activities of corporations and governments, facilitated by ‘compromise’ laws that offer insufficient deterrence. Polly offers a solution that is radical, but absolutely necessary: the recent Mexican Gulf oil spill is a compelling reminder of the consequences of un-checked ecocide.

‘Eradicating Ecocide highlights the need for enforceable, legally binding mechanisms in national and international law to hold account perpetrators of long term severe damage to the environment. At this critical juncture in history it is vital that we set global standards of accountability for corporations, in order to put an end to the culture of impunity and double standards that pervade the international legal system. Polly Higgins illustrates how this can be achieved in her invaluable new book.’ Bianca Jagger, Founder and Chair of Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, Advocate for Crimes Against Present and Future Generations

Higgins advocates the introduction of a new international law, Ecocide: ‘damage, destruction to or loss of ecosystems’, as the 5th Crime Against Peace. This would hold to account heads of corporate bodies that are found guilty of damaging the environment; it would present corporations with a new choice: they could choose to be part of the solution, part of the salvation of the planet’s future, by complying with the new law of Ecocide. The opportunity to implement this law represents a crossroads in the fate of humanity; we can accept the change, or we can continue to allow its destruction, risking future brutal war over disappearing natural resources.

Read More …

In the final stages of the Labour Party leadership campaign, it is encouraging to hear that one of the candidates, Andy Burnham, has called for ‘a radical tax reform’ with Land-Value Taxation (LVT) at its heart – ‘an idea so old-Labour it can be traced back to Thomas Paine’. This is the first time since the Labour Government of 1929-31 (see also Standing for Justice, Shepheard-Walwyn 2001) that a leading member of the Labour Party has openly acknowledged the many benefits that would flow from this shift of taxation, away from work and enterprise and onto the annual rental value of land, benefits explained in greater detail in the various books in our Ethical Economics list.

For the full article visit www.guardian.co.uk