HENRY
GEORGE
1839-1897
WHO IS HENRY
GEORGE?
•
•
•
BORN ON SEPTEMBER 2, 1839,
IN PHIL ADELPHIA,
PENNSYLVANIA.
HE WAS PERPLEXED BY THE
APPARENT PARADOX THAT
THE POOR IN THE LONGESTABLISHED CITY OF NEW
YORK L IV E D UNDE R MUCH
W ORSE CONDIT IONS T HAN
THE POOR IN LESSDEVELOPED CALIFORNIA.
HE INSPIRED THE ECONOMIC
PHILOSOPHY KNOWN AS
GEORGISM
ACHIEVEMENTS
•
•
•
IN 1876 HE SECURED A POLITICAL
APPOINTMENT AS STATE GAS-METER
INSPECTOR THAT ENABLED HIM TO
WORK ON PROGRESS AND POVERTY
WR OT E T H E M O S T I N F LU E NT I A L
AMERICAN ECONOMIC TREATISE OF
T H E 1 9 T H C E N T U R Y, E N T I T L E D
P R O G R E S S A N D P O V E R T Y, A N D
PUBLISHED IN 1879
IN 1890S, THE BOOK SOLD SEVERAL
MILLION COPIES, HELPING TO SET OFF
‘THE PROGRESSIVE ERA’ IN THE USA
BELIEFS
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Socialization of land and natural resource rents
Municipalization of utilities and free public transit
Intellectual property reform
Free trade
Secret ballot
Money creation, banking, and national deficit reform
Citizen's dividend and universal pension
Bankruptcy protection and an abolition of debtors'
prisons
Women's suffrage