Lesson 4: The Myth of Value-Free Economics History of Capital in the 20th Century 1. Why did Henry George have such strong support among the Irish? (104-106) 2. What is Pareto optimality? (107) 3. How does Edgeworth s thinking resemble that of Malthus? (108) 4. In what way did neoclassical economics, exemplified by Pareto, change the entire focus of the discipline of economics? (113-114) 5. Explain Pareto s concept of rent. (114) 6. How does the neoclassical refusal to differentiate land from other inputs lead to the environmentalist backlash against autistic economics? (116) 7. According to Frank Knight, what is one way that human activities create land value? (118) 8. According to Knight, what makes a market efficient? What does this have to do with the neoclassical opposition to Henry George? (119)
9. What is the fallacy of the disappearing inventory? Why was this an important point for Knight? (120) 10. How much value did Frank Knight place in an informed citizenry? (121) 11. How does Carl C. Plehn s career exemplify the effects of neoclassical economic theory? (126-127) 12. What have been the long-term trends in the return to labor and to capital in the US? (129-131) 13. What are some of the social and cultural problems associated with these economic trends? (133-134) 14. According to Gaffney, what has been the major modern means of privatized education? (137)
Lesson 5: The Georgist Paradigm History of Capital in the 20th Century 1. Do you agree with Harrison s characterization of modern society? Why, or why not? [-] 2. What five criteria does Harrison propose for evaluating a new paradigm? (168-169) 3. What crucial element has been left out of the analyses of 20th-century social scientists? (172) 4. According to Harrison, how is rent analogous to oil in an engine? (173-175) 5. Why have social scientists been unable to explain or correct the problem of urban blight? (180) 6. How were the primary functions of society funded under the feudal system? (182) 7. Why is a society in which land rent is taken for public revenue referred to as a tax-free society? (183) 8. How does Smith s description of beggars resemble the neoclassical economists characterization of unemployed workers? (186)
9. How did Ebenezer Howard s garden cities propose to solve the problems of urban blight? (188-189) 10. What were the key concepts offered by John Locke and Adam Smith that formed the basis of the industrial economy? (193) 11. In Soviet society, how was the dictatorship of the proletariat administered? (194) 12. How is Henry George s conception of property rights consistent with those of primitive societies? How does it meet the needs of modern societies? (196-197) 13. Why did social scientists fail to predict the outcome of the green revolution? (199-200) 14. What were some of the social and environmental effects of the green revolution? (200-201) 15. Under current arrangements, what would be the effect of an improvement in the provision of safe water supplies? (203-204) 16. What urgent cultural need arises along with the development of the global economy? (206) 17. According to Harrison, how has the issue of women s rights been clouded in current analysis? (207)
Lesson 6: Twenty-First Century Social Problems History of Capital in the 20th Century 1. Is it possible to have a free market with private ownership of land? Explain your answer. (211) 2. How is this principle illustrated in John Hibbs s comment on the financing of public transportation? (212) 3. What is the crucial responsibility of today s social scientists? (214) 4. Why are economic advisors from the OECD unable to offer constructive policies for the post-soviet transitional economies? (216-217) 5. Why did Boris Yeltsin reverse his determination to hold Russia s land in the public domain? (218) 6. Why was the US Constitution vague about property rights? (221-222) 7. What does Harrison predict would happen if Russia and China adopted the Georgist paradigm? (226) 8. Why was post-apartheid South Africa thought to be an ideal testing ground for the single tax? (238) 9. What was the experience of South African cities with site value taxation? (239)
10. What are some of the specious arguments advanced by Richard Grant against adopting the Georgist remedy in South Africa? (242-243) 11. If the selling price of land is removed, under a system of public collection of rent, what informs people s decisions about how to use different sites? (244) 12. What is Grant s principal misconception about how the land value tax would work? (245) 13. What is the genius of the single tax, according to Feder? (248-249) 14. What is the Georgist response to the neoclassicist claim that land rent must be paid in order for land to be allocated efficiently? (252) 15. Why would landowners not be subjected to a sudden windfall loss when the single tax is brought into effect? (253-254) 16. Why would an initial, limited application of land value taxation tend to increase landowners net rental income? (254) 17. Why does the Laffer Curve not apply to the land value tax? (256)