Martin Jacobson is a Swedish political theorist based in Sweden who works at the University of Upsala. Martin has spent several years exploring the relationship between geoism and liberty. This year he finished his PhD with a dissertation entitled Land and Liberty. In this episode, he talks about freedom. Why is liberty important, what are the different varieties of left-libertarianism, and what are the similarities and differences between Henry George and Benjamin Tucker?

I hope you will enjoy this episode!

Here are some of the books and websites referred to:

Martin Jacobson

Land & Liberty: On the Natural Monopoly of Violence

https://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1852324&dswid=6293

Geoism as part of the left-libertarian tradition

https://progressandpoverty.substack.com/p/geoism-as-part-of-the-left-libertarian

Martin Jacobson on Twitter

https://x.com/MarWJac

Kevin Carson

Organization Theory

https://kevinacarson.org/publication/ot/

Markets not Capitalism

https://store.c4ss.org/index.php/product/markets-not-capitalism/

Rodrick Long

https://oll.libertyfund.org/people/roderick-t-long

Background music by ⁠Kushal Rajkarnikar⁠ from ⁠Pixabay

My website is www.geoliberty.nl

This will be a very boring episode because I do not have an exciting guest today. I will just read a piece from a book about how we can share the earth.

I think I should do this because people who love liberty and are concerned about government intervention may be puzzled or even shocked if they hear that most geoist are in favor of a form of taxation. I agree that it is problematic to promote coercive governments as the best way to solve problems. And I prefer non-coercive forms of cooperation. We may find ways to do this.

However, if we want people to live in liberty, we must find a way to ensure access to natural resources. A schedule of a land value tax and a government is not a proposal to have more government interference. It’s just one of the possible ways to ensure that everyone has access to what nature provides for free.

I hope this helps you to understand the principle behind the Land Value Tax.

Want to read more about this topic?

I recommend the work of authors such as Nicolaus Tideman and Brian Hodgkinson.

Or if you are willing to read a dissertation, consider this one.

In this episode, Gareth and I will introduce you to geoist economics.

Geoists believe that people have equal rights to what nature provides for free. Geoist economists have found a simple way to organise this in an economy.

If people have access to natural resources such as land, houses will be affordable and wages will be higher. Also, the system of taxes and benefits can become less complex.

We hope this brief introduction will make you curious.

Want to read more about this topic?

Gareth recommends you to read Henry George's Progress and Poverty.

https://www.henrygeorge.org/pcontents.htm

Barend has a suggestion for lazy reader such as he is. How our economy really works by Brian Hodgkinson is less that 100 pages and a quick read!

https://shepheardwalwyn.com/product/how-our-economy-really-works-a-radical-reappraisal-brian-hodgkinson/

Some interesting links are available on my website.

https://geoliberty.nl/en/

Background music by ⁠Kushal Rajkarnikar⁠ from ⁠Pixabay

In this first episode, Gareth Whelan and I introduce you to Geoism. Geoism is a smarter way to solve problems such as inequality, unaffordable housing, environmental issues and the decline of freedom. It can help us solve problems with a smaller and simpler government.

Many people say that the free market is not working, so the government should take back more control. This seems a noble aspiration, but the results of planned economies are usually not so good. Geoism is the alternative that should appeal to people on both the left and the right.

Geoists support a free market and a high degree of individual freedom but recognize that people have equal rights to what nature provides for free.

We will try to make more episodes soon, but if you are interested in geoism you can find some resources on my website https://geoliberty.nl/en/.

If you have time for a longer podcast on this approach, I recommend these for example:

Podcast about Progress And Poverty and Land Value Taxation

Most people agree that liberty is something important. But what is liberty? You are not free if you are forced to pick cotton day after day. But you are still unfree if you are forced to work for a boss and rent from a landlord because you cannot own a piece of land where you can run your own business or build your own home.

Geoism is the recognition that people have equal rights to what nature provides for free, such as land. Geoism gives us a framework for building a better society with both freedom and equality. Not only can houses be affordable, but people can also have much more freedom to choose their own lifestyles.

In this podcast, we explore one of the friendliest flavors of liberty.

Background music by Kushal Rajkarnikar from Pixabay