tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post1512084813854264296..comments2024-03-05T10:52:24.691+00:00Comments on Mark Wadsworth: "Joseph Stiglitz: Thomas Piketty gets income inequality wrong"Mark Wadsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07733511175178098449noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-74987018005074743632015-01-06T04:19:44.086+00:002015-01-06T04:19:44.086+00:00@DBCR. True. But strictly speaking that's Tory...@DBCR. True. But strictly speaking that's Tory'ism, not conservatism.Lolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04586735342675041312noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-2568360423002663532015-01-05T22:40:56.097+00:002015-01-05T22:40:56.097+00:00My theory (for nearly all the last month)is that ...My theory (for nearly all the last month)is that most taxes, even the Pigouvian ones ,are taxes of wealth accumulation. The Conservatives are going in for a long term scheme of social engineering by taxing wealth accumulation by those providing goods and services through honest endeavour and steering people into accepting instead untaxed unearned wealth from inflated land values.They are the party of the Landed Interest after all; their modern voters are more dependent on land values than the landowners of Corn Law England.DBC Reedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17891849727783879145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-1586986506972811512015-01-05T21:56:11.786+00:002015-01-05T21:56:11.786+00:00L, let's not get all semantic.
I'm saying...L, let's not get all semantic.<br /><br />I'm saying, if "accumulation of savings and capital" were the problem (which it isn't), then "wealth tax" would be the solution.<br /><br />LVT is not a wealth tax (income tax, NIC, VAT and corporation tax are wealth taxes). <br /><br />LVT is merely preventing private collection of rents. LVT is not even a tax or redistribution - it is pre-distribution of rents.Mark Wadsworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07733511175178098449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-10932600585306657692015-01-05T21:42:54.047+00:002015-01-05T21:42:54.047+00:00MW, Erm, I don't see LVT as a 'wealth tax&...MW, Erm, I don't see LVT as a 'wealth tax'. It's a tax on rents. 'Wealth' must include 'capital' (which isn't land/rents) which you don't really want to tax. Do you?Lolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04586735342675041312noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-60473872094424892562015-01-05T21:08:30.750+00:002015-01-05T21:08:30.750+00:00L, P misdiagnosed the problem as accumulation of c...L, P misdiagnosed the problem as accumulation of capital or savings, but gave the correct solution i.e. wealth tax. S diagnosed the problem correctly (private collection of rents) but fails to offer a solution.Mark Wadsworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07733511175178098449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-31207337736415976802015-01-05T19:23:58.518+00:002015-01-05T19:23:58.518+00:00MW. Remind me. What was Picketty's solution?MW. Remind me. What was Picketty's solution?Lolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04586735342675041312noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-17433336810656745412015-01-05T18:31:39.308+00:002015-01-05T18:31:39.308+00:00To summarise: Picketty has come up with the right ...To summarise: Picketty has come up with the right solution to the wrong problem; Stiglitz has identified the right problem but has no solution.<br /><br />Maybe they ought to get in touch with each other and thrash it out?Mark Wadsworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07733511175178098449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-27720901667185525322015-01-05T16:35:19.021+00:002015-01-05T16:35:19.021+00:00@dBCR. I don't really care if LVT is 'poli...@dBCR. I don't really care if LVT is 'politically' neutral. I care that, economically, it is the least bad tax, probably. Lolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04586735342675041312noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-1131079694937772132015-01-05T14:26:10.076+00:002015-01-05T14:26:10.076+00:00@L
I think you have cracked the Stiglitz enigma. H...@L<br />I think you have cracked the Stiglitz enigma. He seems to be confusing earned income with unearned income (from land etc).<br /><br /> <br />I have never seen LVT as "just" the least bad way of raising revenue BTW.It is nowhere near as politically neutral as that.DBC Reedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17891849727783879145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-77572975195148351442015-01-05T13:56:33.652+00:002015-01-05T13:56:33.652+00:00I can't quite square Stiglitz' circle in t...I can't quite square Stiglitz' circle in the article. He makes the point very well that what we have is 'rent' inequality and then in the last paragraph he starts on all the other things that he thinks 'need to be done' to sort out 'income inequality'.<br />My personal problem is that I just cannot see what is wrong with income inequality, <i>as long as we can get rid of all the cronyism and rent seeking </i> which seems to drive the worst of it.Lolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04586735342675041312noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-67806962605861821172015-01-05T13:29:58.600+00:002015-01-05T13:29:58.600+00:00@DBCR. LVT isn't strictly speaking an 'in...@DBCR. LVT isn't strictly speaking an 'intervention'. It's just the least bad way of raising revenue for the 'state'.<br />And I am not a 'conservative'. But, I do believe that certain tried and tested institutions are worth preserving; the common law for example.<br />Lolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04586735342675041312noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-22050423174131331202015-01-05T10:19:51.999+00:002015-01-05T10:19:51.999+00:00@MW
I have always rather admired L for proposing L...@MW<br />I have always rather admired L for proposing LVT on staunch Conservative lines.(Not that I understand him though: he decries interventionism though LVT is currently the biggest intervention of the lot; Conservative audiences on telly discussion programmes will even support proposals for renationalising the railways but get nasty at any disrespectful reference to house price inflation which they worship.DBC Reedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17891849727783879145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-14551813376699651322015-01-05T08:44:29.413+00:002015-01-05T08:44:29.413+00:00This comment has been removed by the author.Lolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04586735342675041312noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-14269669031239100182015-01-05T08:43:46.328+00:002015-01-05T08:43:46.328+00:00MW. Ho Ho. We'll have to kiss and make up.MW. Ho Ho. We'll have to kiss and make up.Lolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04586735342675041312noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-55108690160209883012015-01-05T02:29:48.944+00:002015-01-05T02:29:48.944+00:00I'm a Stiglitz fan. Here's one of the top ...I'm a Stiglitz fan. Here's one of the top 10 economists in the world basically making our case. Sure he may not be pointing out the solution but he's absolutely pointing to the root cause. And once people see the cause, they start thinking about possible solutions. So it makes it way easier for people like us to get others to consider the LVT/CI solution.<br /><br />I'm not going to quibble about whether he's doing it right or not or whether he could do more. I'm just glad that he's doing it.Derekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06296053477905542366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-20684910846336186102015-01-04T21:53:28.327+00:002015-01-04T21:53:28.327+00:00L, DBC, for once, you are saying the same thing, j...L, DBC, for once, you are saying the same thing, just from different directions :-)Mark Wadsworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07733511175178098449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-88770921068448203632015-01-04T20:46:00.131+00:002015-01-04T20:46:00.131+00:00Can't see him actually mentioning LVT in his s...Can't see him actually mentioning LVT in his section on things to do about preventing further inequality.<br />Apart from that he's stealing our act.He's about two thirds of the way to being almost as clever as what we are.DBC Reedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17891849727783879145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-50692538033072885042015-01-04T19:14:09.095+00:002015-01-04T19:14:09.095+00:00Reading the article Stiglitz seems a latent interv...Reading the article Stiglitz seems a latent interventionist, so he would not welcome the one stop shop of LVT Lolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04586735342675041312noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-73144529115920862452015-01-04T18:50:53.484+00:002015-01-04T18:50:53.484+00:00AKH, I concur. Econmists usually chicken out when ...AKH, I concur. Econmists usually chicken out when it comes to drawing obvious conclusions.<br /><br />NH, amen to all of that!Mark Wadsworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07733511175178098449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-61456143315615701272015-01-04T17:50:52.527+00:002015-01-04T17:50:52.527+00:00Thankfully there are plenty of people both left an...Thankfully there are plenty of people both left and right who are arguing for a land value tax. It is about economic efficiency. We should discourage easy profit from unproductive activities. It also is impossible to dodge.Neil Hardinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01333739272733802133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-66695857421543013762015-01-04T16:48:56.126+00:002015-01-04T16:48:56.126+00:00I see one of the comments in your link is this.
&...I see one of the comments in your link is this.<br /><br />"I wish Stiglitz would work up the courage to publicly say what mainly needs to be done: land value "tax"."A K Haarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05897490979828603179noreply@blogger.com