PUBLIC LECTURE IN HONOUR OF HENRY GEORGE: 2024

A public lecture in honour of Henry George will be delivered in Sydney on 9 October 2024. It will continue the series of lectures organised by the Department of Economics at Macquarie University with assistance from the F.J. Walsh Bequest. This year’s lecture will be delivered by Professor Arthur Grimes, Chair of Wellbeing & Public Policy, School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand. He is a former Chairman and Chief Economist of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, and a former member of the New Zealand government’s Tax Working Group. In addition to his work in monetary economics and taxation, Professor Grimes is a noted scholar in the fields of wellbeing economics and urban economics.

BACKGROUND

Henry George (1839-1897) rose to fame as a social reformer and economist amid the industrial and intellectual turbulence of the late nineteenth century. His best-selling Progress and Poverty (1879) captures the ravages of privileged monopolies and the woes of industrialization in a language of eloquent indignation. Today we talk of the one percenters and the excesses of economic inequality and dislocation. Effective remedies for the housing crisis, periodic recessions, and diminished productivity elude policy makers. Across a wide spectrum of discourse George’s ideas for reform resonate as powerfully today as they did in the former Gilded Age. A call for a more sustained and systematic look at his “sovereign remedy” can now be heard in many quarters.

LECTURE TITLE: “The answer is … land tax. But what is the question?”

In the lecture, Professor Grimes will address the topic that Henry George is perhaps most famous for: the ‘single tax’, i.e. the need for a land tax. Economists have long espoused the efficiency benefits of a tax on the unimproved value of land; advocates include John Stuart Mill, Henry George and Milton Friedman. But many questions remain: What are the criteria for favouring land tax over other taxes? What are the equity implications of adopting a land tax? For which economic and social challenges should a land tax be adopted, with offsetting falls in other taxes? These questions touch on a wide variety of social and economic topics. They will be answered in relation to local and central government financing, with historical and contemporary examples providing real-world policy context.

DATE
Wednesday 9 October 2024 at 5.45 pm - 7:30 pm. Light refreshments will be served.

PLACE:
Macquarie University City Campus, Room 2305, Level 23, 123 Pitt Street, Sydney, 2000. (Entry via Level 24)

REGISTRATION:
Registration is free. Please RSVP by Friday, 4th of October.