Laurent, J. (Ed.). Henry George's Legacy in Economic Thought (Book Review‪)‬

Laurent, J. (ed.). Henry George's Legacy in Economic Thought. Cheltenham: Elgar, 2005. Pp. 271. ISBN 1 84376 885 2 (hb.). 58.50 [pounds sterling]. In our rather mediocre age the edited book of essays is correctly held at a substantial discount for being the repository of half-baked papers that have been summarily rejected from the refereed journals or, what is arguably worse, the product of ill-conceived invitations to acquaintances of the editor. This decline in the fortunes of the collection of essays has been facilitated by the predilection of once reputable publishers to pursue very nearly every objective except scholarship and, at least in Australia, government incentive schemes in which rather ordinary academics are rewarded for the quantity rather than the quality of their research output. It is therefore refreshing to come across a collection of essays on Henry George's legacy in economic thought that is worth reading. It cannot be argued that the essays constitute a landmark development in the field--that would be asking too much--but scholarly standards have been maintained and each contributor has made a solid contribution to the literature. I derived knowledge from each of the essays contained in this book. Every good research library should own a copy of this publication.