Tony Benn
British politician (1925-2014)
Henry George
American political economist and journalist (1839-1897)
Henry George was an American political economist and journalist whose writings inspired the economic philosophy known as Georgism. His most famous work, ‘Progress and Poverty’, explored the paradox of increasing inequality and poverty despite economic progress, and he advocated for a single tax on land values as a remedy for social problems.
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About the Henry George
Henry Georgewas an American political economist and journalist. His writing was immensely popular in 19th-century America and sparked several reform movements of the Progressive Era. He inspired the economic philosophy known as Georgism, the belief that people should own the value they produce themselves, but that the economic value of landshould belong equally to all members of society. George famously argued that a single tax on land values would create a more productive and just society.
His most famous work, Progress and Povertypublic utilities/transportation provided by the capture of their resulting land rent uplift, Pigouvian taxation, and public ownership of other natural monopolies.
George was a journalist for many years, and the popularity of his writing and speeches brought him to run for election as Mayor of New York City in 1886. As the United Labor Party nominee in 1886 and in 1897 as the Jefferson Democracy Party nominee, he received 31 percent and 4 percent of the vote respectively and finished ahead of former New York State Assembly minority leader Theodore Roosevelt in the first race. After his death during the second campaign, his ideas were carried forward by organizations and political leaders through the United States and other Anglophone countries. The mid-20th century labor economist and journalist George Soule wrote that George was by far “the most famous American economic writer” and “author of a book which probably had a larger world-wide circulation than any other work on economics ever written.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Henry George (1839-1897) was an American political economist and journalist whose writings were immensely popular in 19th-century America and inspired several reform movements of the Progressive Era.
Georgism is the economic philosophy inspired by Henry George, which holds that people should own the value they produce themselves, but the economic value of land (including natural resources) should belong equally to all members of society.
Henry George’s most famous work was ‘Progress and Poverty’ (1879), which sold millions of copies worldwide and investigated the paradox of increasing inequality and poverty despite economic and technological progress.
Henry George famously argued that a single tax on land values would create a more productive and just society, and he also defended free trade, the secret ballot, free public utilities, and public ownership of natural monopolies.
Henry George ran for Mayor of New York City in 1886 and 1897, receiving 31% and 4% of the vote respectively, and finishing ahead of Theodore Roosevelt in the first race.
After Henry George’s death, his ideas were carried forward by organizations and political leaders through the United States and other Anglophone countries, and the mid-20th century labor economist and journalist George Soule described him as the most famous American economic writer.
Henry George’s writing was immensely popular in 19th-century America and sparked several reform movements of the Progressive Era, with his ideas continuing to be influential long after his death.
14 Quotes by Henry George
- 1.
Capital is a result of labor, and is used by labor to assist it in further production. Labor is the active and initial force, and labor is therefore the employer of capital.
Henry GeorgeAmerican political economist and journalist (1839-1897)
- 2.
He who sees the truth, let him proclaim it, without asking who is for it or who is against it.
Henry GeorgeAmerican political economist and journalist (1839-1897)
- 3.
How can a man be said to have a country when he has not right of a square inch of it.
Henry GeorgeAmerican political economist and journalist (1839-1897)
- 4.
Let no man imagine that he has no influence. Whoever he may be, and wherever he may be placed, the man who thinks becomes a light and a power.
Henry GeorgeAmerican political economist and journalist (1839-1897)
- 5.
How many men are there who fairly earn a million dollars?
Henry GeorgeAmerican political economist and journalist (1839-1897)
- 6.
Poorly paid labor is inefficient labor, the world over.
Henry GeorgeAmerican political economist and journalist (1839-1897)
- 7.
There is danger in reckless change, but greater danger in blind conservatism.
Henry GeorgeAmerican political economist and journalist (1839-1897)
- 8.
Man is the only animal whose desires increase as they are fed; the only animal that is never satisfied.
Henry GeorgeAmerican political economist and journalist (1839-1897)
- 9.
What has destroyed every previous civilization has been the tendency to the unequal distribution of wealth and power.
Henry GeorgeAmerican political economist and journalist (1839-1897)
- 10.
The man who gives me employment, which I must have or suffer, that man is my master, let me call him what I will.
Henry GeorgeAmerican political economist and journalist (1839-1897)
- 11.
That which is unjust can really profit no one; that which is just can really harm no one.
Henry GeorgeAmerican political economist and journalist (1839-1897)
- 12.
Progressive societies outgrow institutions as children outgrow clothes.
Henry GeorgeAmerican political economist and journalist (1839-1897)
- 13.
The march of invention has clothed mankind with powers of which a century ago the boldest imagination could not have dreamt.
Henry GeorgeAmerican political economist and journalist (1839-1897)
- 14.
The methods by which a trade union can alone act, are necessarily destructive; its organization is necessarily tyrannical.
Henry GeorgeAmerican political economist and journalist (1839-1897)