Book Description

We need a different way of doing things. We need an economy that makes things fairer and more equal. We need economic systems that flourish within our environmental limits and mechanisms that prioritise sustainability. We need radical ideas. And, most importantly, we need ways to turn those ideas into a reality. Stewardship Economy explores how reimagining our relationship with land and the natural environment could address some of the critical challenges facing our local and global communities. It proposes a new way of viewing rights to land and other natural resources, something its author, Julian Pratt, calls stewardship. Under stewardship, similar to the current system, people have exclusive right to use the land. But in return for this right they have a duty of care for the land. They also have a duty to compensate others in the community who are excluded from using the land. This compensation is paid as a stewardship fee. A steward also has full ownership, in the traditional sense, of any buildings on the land. The system is based on the principle that everyone is entitled to an equal share of the wealth that is created by natural resources. The stewardship fee (land value tax) is gathered by governments and used in a combination of three ways (i) in place of conventional taxes, (ii) to fund public services and (iii) redistributed through the provision of a universal income. The stewardship book series sets out the moral and economic arguments for stewardship as well as demonstrating how it would work in practice and how transition to a full stewardship economy could happen. The first book in the series provides a summary of the proposal. The subsequent books provide further justification for the arguments made and the technical detail. Julian Pratt researched the history and the economics of the ideas set out here over many years. As a young doctor, he worked in Africa where he was deeply affected by the disease and preventable deaths he was witnessing. He realised that unequal distribution of agricultural land and the related poverty were key causes. Looking for solutions, he became interested in 18th and 19th century radical thinkers such as Thomas Spence, Thomas Paine and Henry George and saw how some of what they proposed could address economic inequality. Through this enquiry Julian became committed to a radical rethink of the economic system and saw a form of land tax as a fundamental part of this. Julian first released Stewardship Economy in 2011 and he continued to develop the ideas until his death in 2018. Over the last few years authors and commentators from different perspectives have proposed various aspects of what Julian brings together in a unifying whole. His work is being republished now because his ideas are more relevant than ever for the global challenges of the 2020s.