Contrasting the bountifulness of nature with the niggardly provision of the welfare state, Professor Cary Heath explains how a flawed tax system stunts growth and denies the majority their fair share of the national income, turning poverty into an (avoidable) institution. Professor Paul Downing calls for a UN-mandated environmental constitution. Fred Harrison explains why popular theories of alternative lifestyles (such as Schumacher's "small is beautiful") need to incorporate a new approach to public finance, if poverty is to be abolished and nature protected from polluters. Without a new approach taxation, warns Harrison, people will not be able to choose new lifestyles in a post-industrial society. The book is part of "The Georgist Paradigm" series, which looks afresh at the issues economists have tried unsuccessfully to solve. It draws its inspirations from the work of the 19th-century American social reformer Henry George, whose critique of the capitalist system vied with the communist critique for the support of reformers the world over until the end of World War I. For most of the 20th century economic fashion has seesawed between the extremes of capitalism and communism - demand-side and supply-side. Each addressed specific problems, but at a cost: capitalism generated great wealth, but created a gulf between rich and poor; communism abolished dire poverty, but with a loss of personal liberty; demand-side policies reduced unemployment, but gave rise to inflation; supply-siders cut inflation, but at the cost of employment. Clearly, none of these theories offers a comprehensive explanation of how the economy works. In the series, an international, interdisciplinary group of scholars explain, with as little jargon as possible, how much more efficiently and equitably the Georgist paradigm identifies policies that tackle the social, economic and environmental problems of the late-20th and early-21st centuries. The series is aimed at the student and the politically aware member of the public who are searching for a system combining equity with economic efficiency and environmental sensitivity.
