In economics, land comprises all naturally occurring resources whose supply is inherently fixed. Examples are any and all particular geographical locations, mineral deposits, forests, fish stocks, atmospheric quality, geostationary orbits, and portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Natural resources are fundamental to the production of all goods, including capital goods. Location values must not be confused with values imparted by fixed capital improvements. In classical economics, land is considered one of the three factors of production (also sometimes called the three producer goods) along with capital, and labour. Land is sometimes merged with capital to simplify micro-economics. However, a common mistake is combining land and capital in macro-analysis. Income derived from ownership or control of natural resources is referred to as rent.

Land was sometimes defined in classical and neoclassical economics as the "original and indestructible powers of the soil."Georgists hold that this implies a perfectly inelastic supply curve (i.e., zero elasticity), suggesting that a land value tax that recovers the rent of land for public purposes would not affect the opportunity cost of using land, but would instead only decrease the value of owning it. This view is supported by evidence that although land can come on and off the market, market inventories of land show if anything an inverse relationship to price (i.e., negative elasticity).

As a tangible asset land is represented in accounting as a fixed asset or a capital asset.

Land, particularly geographic locations and mineral deposits, has historically been the cause of much conflict and dispute; land reform programs, which are designed to redistribute possession and/or use of geographic land, are often the cause of much controversy, and conflicts over the economic rent of mineral deposits have contributed to many civil wars.

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Land, In economics, the resource that encompasses the natural resources used in production. In classical economics, the three factors of production are land, labour, and capital. Land was considered to be the “original and inexhaustible gift of nature.” In modern economics, it is broadly defined to include all that nature provides, including minerals, forest products, water and land resources. While many of these are renewable resources, no one considers them “inexhaustible.” The payment to land is called rent. Like land, its definition has been broadened over time to include payment to any productive resource with a relatively fixed supply.

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I am the basis of all wealth, the heritage ofthe wise, the thrifty and prudent.

I am the poor man's joy and comfort, the rich man's prize, the right hand of capital, the silent partner of many thousands of successful men.

I am the solace of the widow, the comfort of old age, the cornerstone of security against misfortune and want.

I am handed down to children, through generations, as a thing of greatest worth.

I am the choicest fruit of toil. Credit respects me. Yet I am humble.

I stand before every man, bidding him know me for what I am and possess me.

I grow and increase in value through countless days. Though I seem dormant, my worth increases, never failing, never ceasing, time is my aid and population heaps up my gain. Fire and the elements I defy, for they cannot destroy me.

My possessors learn to believe in me; invariably they become envied. While all things wither and decay,

I survive. The centuries find me younger, increasing with strength. The thriftless speak ill of me. The charlatans of finance attack me.

I am trustworthy. I am sound. Unfailingly I triumph and detractors are disproved. Minerals and oils come from me. I am producer of food, the basis for ships and factories, the foundation of banks.

Yet I am so common that thousands, unthinking and unknowingly, pass by me.

I am land.

 

Lou Scott,