Progress & Poverty Institute

10/07/2026

Property tax is one of the few taxes African cities control themselves, and most of them underuse it. What happens when they try to reform it?

PPI's Josie Faass talks with Astrid Haas of the Africa Urban Lab about four case studies: Addis Ababa, Freetown, Lagos, and Tanzania Mainland, written with researchers across Africa.

"If someone offers you a silver bullet reform, don't believe them."

Haas's advice for city leaders: skip the big bang, phase in increases, and be transparent about who qualifies for discounts.

Full conversation and research: https://progressandpovertyinstitute.org/astrid-haas-and-dr-kurtis-lockhart/

09/30/2026

When a city grants extra density, it is handing out land value. What does the public get back?

PPI Executive Director Josie Faass sat down with Professors Kathe Newman and Mi Shih of Rutgers' Edward J. Bloustein School to discuss Public Benefits and Private Profits, a study PPI helped fund through our Progress of Ideas grants.

The study compares two places that used similar tools, transfer of development rights and density bonusing, with different results:

In New Taipei City, planners offered several density bonuses without setting priorities, and there was no community participation. Developers used the most profitable ones. Large-site bonuses and TDR accounted for 83% of the extra density granted, and the district got 46 units of social housing.

In Manhattan's East Midtown, a rezoning revised after public pushback directed a share of landmark air rights sales into a public realm improvement fund. That fund is expected to collect about $121 million, alongside required open space and transit upgrades.

Shih's conclusion: community participation is "a necessary, although not a sufficient, condition" for producing meaningful public benefits.

Read Full Report: https://progressandpovertyinstitute.org/dr-kathe-newman-and-dr-mi-shih/

09/07/2026

Price controls. Consumer boycotts. They're not nothing, but do they fix what's actually broken?

In this first post of a two-part series, David Southgate looks at short-term market fixes alongside UN poverty expert Olivier De Schutter's case for real economic democratization

As the cost of living is skyrocketing, policy proposals tied to fairness and equality are making a comeback. Think about, for example, Mamdani-style socialism, a type of “consumer socialism” that attacks consumer prices through government supplied services, such as universal childcare and city-r...

09/02/2026

Today we celebrate the birthday of Henry George, our Institute’s intellectual northstar.

On this day, we share with you this quote of Henry’s, particularly favored by his wife Anna.

08/28/2026

In Puerto Rico, recurring dry taps stem from decades of decaying infrastructure, power grid failures, and a policy model that treats public goods as a market commodity. For low-income and elderly residents who cannot afford private cisterns or endless bottled water, this crisis transforms everyday survival into a stark reality of economic injustice.

In this radio interview transcript with PPI’s Senior Research Associate, David Southgate explains how the burden falls hardest on those least equipped to bear it.

In Puerto Rico, recurring dry taps stem from decades of decaying infrastructure, power grid failures, and a policy model that treats public goods as a market commodity. For low-income and elderly residents who cannot afford private cisterns or endless bottled water, this crisis transforms everyday s...

08/27/2026

After Hurricane Maria, one Puerto Rico mayor built his own power authority out of retired linemen and sheer defiance. Nearly a decade later, a barrio in Ponce is trying something more durable: mapping all 2,000 of its broken streetlights by hand to force $20 million in federal funding into action. This is how La Playa de Ponce is turning blackout rage into a blueprint the government can't ignore.

After Hurricane Maria, one Puerto Rico mayor built his own power authority out of retired linemen and sheer defiance. Nearly a decade later, a barrio in Ponce is trying something more durable: mapping all 2,000 of its broken streetlights by hand to force $20 million in federal funding into action. T...

08/24/2026

Philly has tens of thousands of vacant lots, and needs as many homes.

Could taxing land more, and buildings less, fill vacant land with much-needed housing?

Learn more at our Sept 8 webinar hosted by AIA-Philly!

Register:
https://aiaphiladelphia.org/events/view/land-value-tax-presentation-discussion

08/21/2026

New blog post from PPI Senior Research Associate David Southgate!

After Hurricane Maria, one Puerto Rico mayor built his own power authority out of retired linemen and sheer defiance. Nearly a decade later, a barrio in Ponce is trying something more durable: mapping all 2,000 of its broken streetlights by hand to force $20 million in federal funding into action.

This is how La Playa de Ponce is turning blackout rage into a blueprint the government can't ignore.

After Hurricane Maria, one Puerto Rico mayor built his own power authority out of retired linemen and sheer defiance. Nearly a decade later, a barrio in Ponce is trying something more durable: mapping all 2,000 of its broken streetlights by hand to force $20 million in federal funding into action. T...

08/13/2026

Nine scholars, three programs!

Seven Progress of Ideas Scholars at Rutgers' Bloustein School are working on affordable housing, farmland preservation, clean energy access, community land ownership, and the fate of artists in the neighborhoods they helped make desirable.

Alyssa Schatz (Wood Mountain Lakota First Nation), our first H. William Batt, PhD Memorial Scholar, is at Harvard on a Fulbright and at Standing Rock this summer building the zoning and grants infrastructure that tribal sovereignty runs on.

Martin Jacobson, our first Scholar-in-Residence, is rebuilding the three-factor model of production and showing it explains what the two-factor version cannot.

Meet all nine below.

https://progressandpovertyinstitute.org/meet-the-2026-27-ppi-scholars/

08/12/2026

New grant announcement: Nathan Seegert (Business and Public Policy Center & Northeastern University) will study who really wins and loses under land value taxation, using property, housing, and neighborhood data to bring hard evidence to a long-running policy debate.

Welcome, Nathan!

https://progressandpovertyinstitute.org/sponsored-research/