What is Rent?

Charles Joseph Smith

[Reprinted from Land and Freedom, September-October 1939]

The gist of my argument, as set forth in the July- August LAND AND FREEDOM, is that rent is a social product. To that Mr. Willcox seems to have made no reply. In the third paragraph (p. 136) it would have been a more faithful restatement of George's position had Mr. Willcox said that George subscribed to the idea that rent includes payments for benefits which result from the presence of population and social activities, as these conditions are affected by the desirabilities of particular sites, whether the latter be agricultural, mining, industrial, commercial, or residential.

I suggest the following as food for thought: rent of land is payment for social services social services are in greatest demand where presence and activities of population are greatest presence and activities of population are greatest on lands having highest capacity for production, i.e., on lands of highest productivity or greatest fertility therefore, rent of land depends upon and varies with the different degrees of productivity.