The Land Trap: A New History of the World's Oldest Asset

The Land Trap: A New History of the World's Oldest Asset

How the world’s oldest asset secretly shapes our modern economy In The Land Trap , Mike Bird—Wall Street editor at The Economist —reveals how this ancient asset still exerts outsize influence over the modern world. From the speculative land grabs of colonial America to China's real estate crisis today, Bird shows how fortunes are built—and destroyed—on the bedrock of land. Tracing three centuries of history, Bird explores how land quietly became the linchpin of the global banking system, driving everything from soaring housing prices to rising geopolitical tensisons. As governments wrestle with inequality and land grows ever scarcer, The Land Trap offers a powerful new framework for understanding the hidden force behind today's most urgent challenges. This is the book for anyone who wants to see beyond markets and money to the real game being played on a foundation as old as civilization itself. Timely, provocative, and essential, The Land Trap will change how you see the ground beneath your feet. Financial Times Business Book of the Year 2025 Longlist “A thought-provoking look at the little-examined role of land in making the rich richer and the poor poorer.” — Kirkus “ The Land Trap is a phenomenal tale of the original asset to beat all others. From America's wild frontier to the skyscrapers of today's Singapore and the ghost cities produced by China's wild real-estate boom, Mike Bird takes the reader on a wonderful exploration of how land remains at the heart of the global economy even today.” — Robin Wigglesworth, author of Trillions "We know that land can neither be created nor destroyed, but what The Land Trap shows is that it also can no longer be ignored. Mike Bird walks his reader through what makes humanity's most ancient asset so special—and how it has shaped modern history. A sweeping political, intellectual, and economic history that illuminates today’s thorniest challenges—from the housing crisis to geopolitical power. An indispensable read." — Jerusalem Demsas, editor in chief at The Argument “Mike Bird hasn't just written a history of land. The Land Trap is an outstanding alternative history of the modern world, through the prism of the asset that's come to dominate so many developed economies. If you want to understand how the global financial system became what it is, this book is essential.” — Matthew Campbell , coauthor of Dead in the Water “Mike Bird demonstrates the important and under-appreciated roles that land ownership, conflict, reform, and redistribution have played throughout modern history in a compelling, even eye-opening way. An illuminating read.” — Gregory Zuckerman, author of The Man Who Solved the Market “Bird manages to be wide-ranging in time, space and scope, while keeping the pace and wrapping up at a digestible length. Both newcomers to his theme and those familiar with the history will find eye-opening anecdotes here.” — The Financial Times “A masterful introduction to the economics of our most basic asset.” — The Guardian “Smart and stimulating. The Land Trap is a brisk globe-trot through great moments in land policy, including the roots of the American Revolution, the preachings of the land-value tax evangelist Henry George, and the postcolonial land-reform movement of the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s.” — Slate "Bird’s shrewd analysis crackles with fresh insights that tie together material economics with financial abstractions. The result is a stimulating take on modern finance that shows investors’ fates are rooted in the dirt beneath their feet." — Publishers Weekly "One of those books that changes the way you see the world. Gripping, urgent, important." — Ed Conway, author of Material World "This wonderful book is as welcome as it is overdue... shines a much-needed light on this essential topic." — Rory Sutherland, author of Alchemy "A deftly written tale." — Lewis Baston, author of Borderlines Mike Bird is the Wall Street editor for The Economist , leading coverage of topics across the American financial industry and contributing to coverage of finance globally. He also cohosts the financial podcast Money Talks . Previously, he was a financial columnist and market reporter at The Wall Street Journal . Bird studied history and politics at the University of Exeter in the UK. He is currently based in New York City. The Lie of the Land About 3,200 years ago, more than a millennium before Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon and the beginnings of the Roman Empire, more than six centuries before the birth of either Plato or Confucius, a lucky servant named Munnabittu received a gift of land from Meli-Šipak II, one of the Kassite kings who reigned in ancient Babylon. We know quite a few things about Munnabittu and his patch of earth. We know that he owned several hundred acres, a little more than a square mile. The parcel would have made him moderately rich, but not immensely so. We know that the l