Tag Archives: Fred Harrison

English, Public goods, State, Taxation

Towards an inclusive world: Reformulating public policies

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Fred Harrison* …

tries to find an answer to the question, whether it is possible to identify a social paradigm that is free of the defects associated with past and present social formations?

Read the text, published by the DOC research institute here: Towards an inclusive world: Reformulating public policies

220px-Fred_Harrison
Fred Harrison

 

* Fred Harrison (born 1944) is a British author, economic commentator and corporate policy advisor, he is Research Director of the London-based Land Research Trust. He is notable for his stances on land reform and belief that an over reliance on land, property and mortgage weakens economic structures and makes companies vulnerable to economic collapse. His first book, The Power in the Land (1983), predicted the economic crisis of 1992. He followed this with a 10-year forecast (published in The Chaos Makers [1997]) that a global financial crisis would be triggered when house prices peaked in 2007. He studied economics at Oxford, first at Ruskin College and then at University College, where he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics. His MSc is from the University of London. Fred’s first career was in newspaper journalism, most notably at The People newspaper, where he became chief reporter. After a move to Economics, initially as Director of the Centre for Incentive Taxation, he spent 10 years in Russia advising their Federal Parliament (Duma) and local authorities on property tax reform and establishment of land markets. Since his return to the UK he has worked as a corporate business advisor, research director, writer and lecturer. Harrison is inspired by the writings of American political economist, Henry George. He has written for a number of newspapers and magazines and his books are widely distributed.

Economoc Theory, English, Public goods

Fred Harrison’s new report about statecraft economics

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Dirk Löhr

Fred Harrison’s new book is now available:
Statecraft: How the Economics of Civilisation Can Rescue the Global Economy

For non members of DOC the price is € 20,00. Here is a brief abstract of the contents (by Ed Dodson):

220px-Fred_Harrison
Fred Harrison

“Fred Harrison argues that mainstream economics – both as an academic discipline and as a set of principles guiding public policy – is flawed and requires a fundamental rethink. The author proposes the notion of ‘economics of civilisation’ as a conceptual and practical resource to renew the art of statecraft at the service of a global economy capable of producing wealth in ways that are socially and ecologically just and viable.”

This book is an important addition to the volume of work Fred has produced in an effort to change the course of history. Consider getting a copy to put into the hands of someone who commands an audience in what Walt Rybeck taught us is the “public dialogue.”

English, State, Taxation

Fred Harrison on government failure on the realm of tax policy

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Dirk Löhr

On January 26, the Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute hosted its first lecture with author and economic commentator Fred Harrison*, who gave a speech entitled ‘The Economics of Civilisation – The Conflict Resolution Paradigm for the Age of Geopolitical Crisis’.
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Fred Harrison

Harrison describes an analytical framework that facilitates the comparison of the financial foundations of the civilisation model with the systemic pillars on which liberal democracies were constructed. In the attached interview (please click for watching the video), Harrison describes the reasons for government failure in the realm of tax policy.

 

 

 

 

* Fred Harrison (born 1944) is a British author, economic commentator, and corporate policy advisor, and is Research Director of the London-based Land Research Trust. He is notable for his stance on land reform and belief that an over-reliance on land, property, and mortgages weakens economic structures and makes companies vulnerable to economic collapse.

English, Taxation

Politics: What’s the Big Idea?

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by Fred Harrison

All over Europe, small parties have sprung up to register discontent with austerity. People are fed up, and they are determined to voice their opposition to mainstream politicians who have no solutions to persistent problems.

Fred Harrison
Fred Harrison

Syriza was the first to make the breakthrough, but the people of Greece will end up realising that the party-from-nowhere is also bereft of ideas.

Podemos may be the next to make it to the big stage, in the Spanish elections next year. But, as of today, they don’t have better answers than the Syriza politicians who are currently being humiliated by the IMF and Europe’s finance ministers.

But these and the other new parties will not endure, unless they come up with a Big Idea. Can they? That’s the only way to break through into the mainstream. What happened in Britain is revealing.

In the 19th century, the minority Liberals made the breakthrough to government with Free Trade as their Big Idea.

In the 20th century, the embryonic Labour Party made the breakthrough with its big idea – socialism was going to cure all.

The Liberals, and Labour, have now been humiliated by events. They failed to make the difference to the recurring booms and busts and human degradation, which stem from a set of rules that manifests itself in the economics of apartheid.

There is one big idea only left to be picked up: reform the finances of government, to liberate people in the workplace. That would automatically trigger the rehabilitation of both the extended family and both the material and cultural fabric of communities.

Furthermore, removing the taxes that debilitate and distort both the economy and interpersonal relationships in a million-and-one ways would soon be perceived as the one strategy that can launch the process of renegotiating the terms of deployment between nations.

It’s a simple idea. It boils down to a homely proposition, one that governs our private lives: keep what you create, pay for what you receive. But it constitutes a revolutionary challenge to those who occupy the seats of power. It forces transparency on “the system”, and makes politicians accountable for their actions.

Doesn’t that sound like the Big Idea for a small party wanting to make it into the big time?

 

The original text is published in Fred Harrison’s Blog
(download here)

English, Land Reform

Scotland: Land Reform after the Referendum

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Fred Harrison

… spent the last two Wednesdays in Glasgow, helping to organise a new coalition of interests around the concept of rent as public revenue.

Fred Harrison
Fred Harrison

They decided to call themselves the Scottish Land Revenue Group. If land and tax reform is to progress in the UK, it will probably begin in Scotland. Here’s why:

Land Reform after the Referendum (click)

 

Deutsch, Money

Life below zero? Negativzinsen und Assetpreisinflation

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Dirk Löhr

Zum ersten Mal diskutiert die Europäische Zentralbank die Gesellsche Geldreform – im Zusammenhang mit ihrer Niedrigzinspolitik, die nunmehr langsam an die Grenzen des Konventionellen stößt.

EZB: Neuer Bau, neue Ideen?
EZB: Neuer Bau, neue Ideen?

Die Rede von  Benoît Cœuré:

Life below zero: Learning about negative interest rates (bitte klicken)

markiert einen gedanklichen Fortschritt, den man beinahe historisch nennen mag.

Allerdings vermisst man Gedanken über das Zusammenspiel zwischen Geldumlaufsicherungsgebühr bzw. “Negativzins” und der Eigentumsordnung:

– Ist ein “Negativzins” bei einem positiven Eigenzinssatz (Keynes) von Land und Natur (im Privateigentum) überhaupt möglich? Oder stehen Arbitrageprozesse dagegen, die das Geld in Immobilien und Aktien schwappen lassen?

– Der Bodenwert ergibt sich näherungsweise aus der Bodenrente, dividiert durch den (Real-) Zinssatz; der Unternehmenswert aus der ökonomischen Rente des Unternehmens, dividiert durch den (Real-) Zinssatz. Welches sind die Auswirkungen einer “Negativzinspolitik” auf Assetpreisinflationen, v.a. auf den Immobilien- und Aktienmärkten? Kommt es zu einer Vermögenspreisexplosion, die z.B. Wohnen unerschwinglich werden lässt?

Eine Reform der Eigentumsordnung an Land und Ressourcen ist ohne eine Geldreform durchführbar. Umgekehrt gilt dies aber nicht ohne Weiteres. Wir können gespannt sein, ob die EZB den intellektuellen Mut aufbringt, die Entkapitalisierung von Land und Natur (und damit mittelbar auch von Aktiengesellschaften  etc., die im Wesen “Land Banks” sind) in die Diskussion zu bringen. Ein erster Schritt  wäre ein “Tax Shift” weg von den herkömmlichen Steuern hin zu einer Bodenwertsteuer,  die dann aber ein wesentlich höheres Gewicht als die heutige (vollkommen missratene) Grundsteuer haben müsste. Ein Vorschlag in diese Richtung kam u.a. sogar schon von der OECD; er sollte nicht in so weiter intellektueller Ferne liegen. Die in Deutschland anstehende Grundsteuerreform gäbe Gelegenheit, in diese Richtung voranzuschreiten (s. den Beitrag “Grundsteuerreform und Aufruf “Grundsteuer: Zeitgemäß!“). Zur Einführung einer EU-Bodenwertabgabe als eigenständige Finanzierungsquelle der EU-Administration und ihrer Regionalpolitik s. Ricardo und die Troika – für die Einführung einer EU-Bodenwertabgabe, in: Wirtschaftsdienst, Oktober 2013, S. 702-709.