Economic essays

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1753623200

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-136107

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Economic essays

Place of publication:: New York

Publisher:: Macmillan

Year of publication:: 1927

Scope:: viii, 368 S.; Ill., graph. Darst.

Digitisation:: 2021

Collection:: Economics Books

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Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Land economics / Richard T. Ely

Collection:: Economics Books

LAND ECONOMICS 125 trees resulting in high prices for lumber. Other aspects of the forest land problem are mentioned elsewhere in this paper. Another case of over-expansion is afforded by the urban area, where we find an enormous amount of excessive subdivision resulting in loss both to individuals and to society. The individual loses by putting his money into an enterprise which may presently become bankrupt or through which he may suffer a loss, either total or partial, even though the enterprise itself does not fail. To what extent there is a social loss from the over- expansion of the urban area, which is really not called for by the urban demands, from taking land over from agricultural use, it is impossible to say. No one knows how great the unoccupied and uncalled for urban area may be. The most serious loss would be due to the large expenditures involved in laying out suburbs that are not needed. This is a very serious matter. We cannot, however, enter further into this matter for it would take us too far afield into urban land problems. Then there is the problem of maintaining a balance between present and future uses. A land policy should take account both of present needs in relation to population and of future needs in terms of carefully estimated increase of population. The unbalanced situation which results when production is over- stimulated is peculiarly disastrous in the case of land. Land is slow to respond to changes, particularly changes in price, and this is of great economic significance. Take the case of agricultural land, if prices should drop suddenly between planting and harvest, the farmer is helpless to act to meet the situation. He must har- vest the crop he has planted and take the consequences. Pro- duction on the land cannot be curtailed as easily as production in other industries. In some measure the present agricultural dis- tress in the United States is due to the cumulative effect of continuous stimulation of agricultural production, plus the con- centrated pressure brought to bear on agriculture during the war. Once brought into utilization, the land factor is more likely to remain in operation than the other factors of production, and this is true for all types of land utilization, whether agricultural or urban. We have here, then, an added reason for careful con- sideration of both present and future land needs from a national point, of view. The third problem of balance is between agriculture as a whole

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