Land Reform Isn’t the Problem—It’s the Missing Piece
In the ongoing debate about poverty, inequality, and economic development in the Philippines, land reform frequently surfaces as a proposed solution—particularly in a country where land ownership remains highly concentrated. However, the topic of land reform often draws eye-rolls or dismissive shrugs in Philippine economic circles; it’s “anti-business,” “inefficient,” or worse, “socialist.” Some market-oriented economists in the Philippines argue that land reform programs do more harm than good—that they undermine property rights, deter investment, and fail to lift rural communities out of poverty.
But this narrative misses a deeper truth: in societies where land ownership is historically concentrated, markets alone cannot produce justice—or even efficiency. Without some form of progressive land reform, we risk entrenching a system in which opportunity is hoarded and poverty becomes hereditary.
The problem isn’t land reform. The problem is pretending we can ignore land altogether.
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### Land Is Not Like Other Property
One of the most important insights from the 19th-century economist Henry George is that land is not capital. Unlike machines, buildings, or tools, land is not produced by human effort. Its value comes not from the individual owner, but from the surrounding community. A vacant lot in Makati is worth millions not because of the owner’s labor, but because it sits near jobs, infrastructure, and public investment.
When that land value is captured privately, it creates what George called economic rent—unearned income that distorts the economy and deepens inequality. The market rewards landowners for scarcity, not productivity. This is not wealth creation; it is wealth extraction.
Yet our current policies protect and even incentivize this behavior.
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### Markets Alone Can’t Fix Land Inequality
Market advocates often call for “liberalizing” land markets—removing ownership ceilings, deregulating land use, or encouraging agribusiness investment. But in a society where land is already unequally distributed, these solutions assume a level playing field that doesn’t exist.
You cannot bid for land if you have no land. You cannot lease land if you're locked into tenancy arrangements with little legal or financial support. And you cannot move up the value chain if your entire livelihood depends on the goodwill of an absentee landowner or a distant corporation.
History shows us what happens when land reform is ignored: rural stagnation, mass migration to cities, informal settlements, and political oligarchy. Markets did not fix this. In fact, they often deepened it.
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### What Real Land Reform Looks Like
To be clear, land reform does not mean handing out plots of land without support or strategy. It means redistributing opportunity, not just soil. A modern land reform agenda might include:
* Reclaiming idle or speculative lands for productive use; * Securing land tenure for farmers and urban poor alike; * Introducing land value taxation, so that landowners pay back some of the community-created value they capture; * And ensuring access to credit, infrastructure, and technical support for new landholders.
This is not “anti-business.” On the contrary, it creates the conditions for broad-based enterprise and innovation.
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### Land Reform Is Justice, Not Charity
Critics often frame land reform as a political handout, driven by populist sentiment. But it’s more accurate to view it as a moral correction—a way to align economic rights with human rights. In George’s words, “The equal right of all men to the use of land is as clear as their equal right to breathe the air.”
Property rights are not sacred relics; they are social constructs, backed by law and force. They should exist not to protect privilege, but to serve the common good. If land ownership becomes a tool of exclusion—hoarding rather than stewardship—then reform is not just justified, it is necessary.
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### The Path Forward
We don’t need to choose between markets and justice. What we need is a recognition that markets work best when their foundations are fair—and that begins with land.
Land reform isn’t a relic of the past. It’s the foundation for any economy that claims to value liberty, opportunity, and dignity for all.
Until we face the land question honestly, we will stagnate.