Joel, this piece is super inspiring. You mention that we should treat ground rents as continuous, not discrete functions. What if we think of the UBI the same way? Redistribute continuous rents to the people that are actively in the city on a second-by-second basis. This way you incentivize people to come to the city and make it valuable on any timescale, even if they're just vising briefly. You wouldn't have any distorting effects around "what is the threshold of residency for getting the UBI each month." Capital could be allocated other ways, of course, but this just seems like the strongest implementation of the UBI that would most directly encourage population growth. And since population size determines the net productivity of cities, this would be the fastest way to grow the city and the net wealth of the residents.
Hey one more thought, I was re-reading Vitalik's post on Crypto Cities, and you both have a lot of similarities in how you are thinking about having people share in wealth of the whole city. If you haven't already, check out "experiment 1" in the post: https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/10/31/cities.html
Thanks for the reply! I like the Harberger Tax, but exempting the place of residence. That's interesting.
For the appraisal and cap rate example, the new appraisal would be done annually? And then the current lease owner would have the option to renew?
One thing I can't quite put my finger on is how important the length of a lease is. In a harberger tax system that doesn't matter, but in theory a wealthy person could lock up all the high value property if they are allowed to lease at indefinite lengths. This is somewhat mitigated by them having to pay rent on that high value, but it still seems less than ideal. Any thoughts on lease length?
Haven't heard of Lars' work before, will check it out!
I love a lot of things about this proposal. I'm 100% onboard with allowing people to buy a piece of the whole city, but I'm a little stuck on the operational mechanics of the leasing bit. Is the rate of the lease determined by the city or by the market? And is there a limit on how long I can lease the property? Just trying to think through the mechanics!
Joel, this piece is super inspiring. You mention that we should treat ground rents as continuous, not discrete functions. What if we think of the UBI the same way? Redistribute continuous rents to the people that are actively in the city on a second-by-second basis. This way you incentivize people to come to the city and make it valuable on any timescale, even if they're just vising briefly. You wouldn't have any distorting effects around "what is the threshold of residency for getting the UBI each month." Capital could be allocated other ways, of course, but this just seems like the strongest implementation of the UBI that would most directly encourage population growth. And since population size determines the net productivity of cities, this would be the fastest way to grow the city and the net wealth of the residents.
Hey one more thought, I was re-reading Vitalik's post on Crypto Cities, and you both have a lot of similarities in how you are thinking about having people share in wealth of the whole city. If you haven't already, check out "experiment 1" in the post: https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/10/31/cities.html
Thanks for the reply! I like the Harberger Tax, but exempting the place of residence. That's interesting.
For the appraisal and cap rate example, the new appraisal would be done annually? And then the current lease owner would have the option to renew?
One thing I can't quite put my finger on is how important the length of a lease is. In a harberger tax system that doesn't matter, but in theory a wealthy person could lock up all the high value property if they are allowed to lease at indefinite lengths. This is somewhat mitigated by them having to pay rent on that high value, but it still seems less than ideal. Any thoughts on lease length?
Haven't heard of Lars' work before, will check it out!
I love a lot of things about this proposal. I'm 100% onboard with allowing people to buy a piece of the whole city, but I'm a little stuck on the operational mechanics of the leasing bit. Is the rate of the lease determined by the city or by the market? And is there a limit on how long I can lease the property? Just trying to think through the mechanics!