About this episode

Mike Bird discusses the economics of land and its impact on global wealth and economies.

Mike Bird, the Wall Street editor of The Economist, joins Cardiff to discuss his new book, The Land Trap: A New History of the World’s Oldest Asset. By one estimate, the value of land makes up roughly a third of all the wealth in the entire world. Add the houses and commercial buildings on top of the land and the total value is almost two-thirds.  And according to Mike, land “defies some of the usual laws of capitalism that apply to other goods and assets.” Its supply is fixed, it is immobile, and it neither decays nor depreciates.  These special qualities have given land its fascinating history. They’re also the reason that so many economies end up in what Mike refers to as the land trap. Mike and Cardiff discuss:  The definition of a land trap Why booming land values are a problem while they’re rising and not just because they often set the stage for a bust How land affects older, established companies differently than newer, innovative businesses — and why that matters for the economy  The perverse incentives that rising land values can have on a nation’s economy The land histories of America, China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore  Land reform and the…

People in this episode

Host: Cardiff

Guest: Mike Bird

Topics covered

• economics
• land value
• capitalism
• land trap
• housing market
• economic development
• land reform

Keywords

• land economics
• wealth distribution
• capitalism
• housing booms
• economic incentives
• land reform
• low-income countries

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Economist

Books & works: The Land Trap: A New History of the World’s Oldest Asset

Places: America, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore

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