The homeless newspaper sellers of San Francisco

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.