The homeless newspaper sellers of San Francisco

/0 Comments/in /by

Entrepreneurs John Bird and Gordon Roddick once gave homeless people the opportunity to sell magazines and make money.

These homeless people very quickly realized that locations made far more of a difference than hard work in how many copies they can sell. Eventually, fights broke out for control over the best locations.

This example is a microcosm for how something as simple as locations can create unearned advantages for people residing in those locations. The unearned wealth that these unearned advantages generate is the source of economic rent. It is what powers the wealth that can be generated for all through a Citizen’s Dividend.

Economic rent as an alternative and better source of wealth

/0 Comments/in /by

Taxes are typically thought of as the traditional source of money needed for a universal basic income (UBI). The problem is that a UBI means you’re taxed more than you normally are taxed.

A Citizen’s Dividend is a UBI but without the usual taxation. Instead, it uses economic rent from land and other forms of the commons as its money generator.

This rent has the potential to give you an even bigger annual stipend than traditional UBIs ever can. It won’t just keep you alive; it can make you rich.