LAND ECONOMICS 
127 
the undue expansion of the urban area which is responsible for 
enormous waste and in many cases the losses of the savings of a 
life time. We need not dwell further upon the importance of the 
topics which we take up in land economics. 
The question can be asked, whether, so far, any valuable results 
are being obtained either in theory or in practice. It is believed 
that the discussion that has been begun is going to lead to correc- 
tion and amplification of economic theory, although we have 
barely made a beginning. 
An effort has been made to get away from the old dogmatic 
treatment of the rent of land by approaching the subject from 
the point of view of cost and income in land utilization. We find 
that land which is utilized yields an income. That is one side 
of the ledger, but what about the cost element—that is the other 
side. We have also taken over from public utility economics the 
idea of historical cost. When this method is pursued, it is difficult 
to find any peculiar or special surplus. Such statistical inquiries 
as have been made indicate rather a relatively low income on the 
investment in land; but we need a great deal more research than 
we have at the present time. 
The more recent theory of land income holds that land yields 
an income substantially of the same character as other forms of 
income. According to the older theory of land income or rent, 
it was a peculiar type of income, a differential, unearned surplus, 
arising from the superiority of some land over other land. Instead 
of a single margin from which rents are measured, we now find 
many margins. Moreover, these margins do not have the same 
significance in fixing rent, for the newer theory tends to regard 
land income as determined by about the same forces and con- 
siderations that affect the income from any other economic good. 
Thus the income from land depends upon the prices that will be 
paid for the products and services of land, and these prices in 
turn are affected by the innumerable factors determining prices 
in general. 
The income from land is not entirely a monetary return, 
although it is commonly so reckoned in most transactions involv- 
ing the transfer of landed property. When considered from the 
point of view of consumption as distinguished from production, a 
considerable part of land income is in the form of amenities or 
psychic income. By amenities are meant beautiful scenery, a