Dimensions of Value: Land & Water
This post is part of my attempt to grapple with the connection between money and value - especially how money reflects our attempt to put a numeric value on virtually everything. The idea here is to replace one-dimensional value (like money) with a multi-dimensional concept.
In the end, I abandoned this effort in favor of a dynamic model of value (IOUTopia). The task of the "dimensional" view was to avoid the need to trade one kind of value for another, yet this is perhaps the core idea of an "economy". The issue then becomes how to envision how we trade one thing of value for another.
But here are the initial ramblings about "dimension" ...
Land is perhaps the oldest and most recognized form of wealth. A big chunk of land is called "territory" and wars are fought over it.
Land poses a problem for money=debt theory. Land seems to sit outside this equation, even though land can be turned into money by using it as security on a loan. Of course, money can be used to purchase land.
Land seems to be especially real to some people - something that always confused me. Obviously, the value of land is in the eye of the beholder. A simple case is land purchased from a farmer to "develop" as commercial real estate. The value is not in the land. It's in the opportunity to create income, perhaps. Or maybe just the love of the land itself ...
In some economic theories (such as Marx), land occupies a place of honor like gold or labor - something of fundamental value that all value is built on. In feudal societies, the "land" comes with human beings tied to it, along with rights to the product of their labor. Sometimes the modern nation-state doesn't look much different. We call that kind of nation a "kleptocracy".
Land & water seem to be candidates for "dimensions" of value. Maybe air or a similar "right to pollute", as in "cap and trade" schemes.
I wonder if, at one time, land seemed as free and infinite as we now think of water. Just a place for the buffalo to roam. Now, the world is edging to a water crisis and we are starting to treat "water rights" like property or as part of property rights.
Land, water and air seem to be the simplest and most obvious proxies for the concept of environment and the value of it. In modern terms, we speak of environmental "services".
In the end, I abandoned this effort in favor of a dynamic model of value (IOUTopia). The task of the "dimensional" view was to avoid the need to trade one kind of value for another, yet this is perhaps the core idea of an "economy". The issue then becomes how to envision how we trade one thing of value for another.
But here are the initial ramblings about "dimension" ...
Land is perhaps the oldest and most recognized form of wealth. A big chunk of land is called "territory" and wars are fought over it.
Land poses a problem for money=debt theory. Land seems to sit outside this equation, even though land can be turned into money by using it as security on a loan. Of course, money can be used to purchase land.
Land seems to be especially real to some people - something that always confused me. Obviously, the value of land is in the eye of the beholder. A simple case is land purchased from a farmer to "develop" as commercial real estate. The value is not in the land. It's in the opportunity to create income, perhaps. Or maybe just the love of the land itself ...
In some economic theories (such as Marx), land occupies a place of honor like gold or labor - something of fundamental value that all value is built on. In feudal societies, the "land" comes with human beings tied to it, along with rights to the product of their labor. Sometimes the modern nation-state doesn't look much different. We call that kind of nation a "kleptocracy".
Land & water seem to be candidates for "dimensions" of value. Maybe air or a similar "right to pollute", as in "cap and trade" schemes.
I wonder if, at one time, land seemed as free and infinite as we now think of water. Just a place for the buffalo to roam. Now, the world is edging to a water crisis and we are starting to treat "water rights" like property or as part of property rights.
Land, water and air seem to be the simplest and most obvious proxies for the concept of environment and the value of it. In modern terms, we speak of environmental "services".
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