Lars Doucet - Progress, Poverty, Georgism, & Why Rent is Too Damn High

<p>One of my best episodes ever. <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/larsiusprime">Lars Doucet</a> is the author of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.landisabigdeal.com/">Land is a Big Deal</a>, a book about Georgism which has been praised by Vitalik Buterin, Scott Alexander, and Noah Smith. Sam Altman is the lead investor in his new startup, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.valuebase.co/">ValueBase</a>.</p><p>Talking with Lars completely changed how I think about who creates value in the world and who leeches off it.</p><p>We go deep into the weeds on Georgism:</p><p>* Why do even the wealthiest places in the world have poverty and homelessness, and why do rents increase as fast as wages?</p><p>* Why are land-owners able to extract the profits that rightly belong to labor and capital?</p><p>* How would taxing the value of land alleviate speculation, NIMBYism, and income and sales taxes?</p><p>Watch on <a target="_blank" href="https://youtu.be/sL-qkv7Pzxo">YouTube</a>. Listen on <a target="_blank" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lars-doucet-georgism-progress-poverty-why-rent-is-too/id1516093381?i=1000593198959">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/7tcy2XXG2JmOdvHtyMuHqZ?si=nxdprv9JRTS2KIUqlQa4dg">Spotify</a>, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript <a target="_blank" href="https://www.dwarkeshpatel.com/p/lars-doucet">here</a>.</p><p>Follow <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/larsiusprime">Lars on Twitter</a>. Follow <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/dwarkesh_sp">me on Twitter</a>.</p><p>Timestamps</p><p>(00:00:00) - Intro</p><p>(00:01:11) - Georgism</p><p>(00:03:16) - Metaverse Housing Crises</p><p>(00:07:10) - Tax Leisure?</p><p>(00:13:53) - Speculation & Frontiers</p><p>(00:24:33) - Social Value of Search </p><p>(00:33:13) - Will Georgism Destroy The Economy?</p><p>(00:38:51) - The Economics of San Francisco</p><p>(00:43:31) - Transfer from Landowners to Google?</p><p>(00:46:47) - Asian Tigers and Land Refor