Fred Harrison (author)

Infobox Person
name = Fred Harrison


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birth_date = 1944
birth_place = England
death_date =
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other_names =
known_for = Economic Theory
occupation = Author
nationality = British

Fred Harrison (1944 - ) is a British author, economic commentator and corporate policy advisor, notable for his stances on land reform and belief that an over reliance on land, property and mortgage weakens economic structuresCitation
last = Howell
first = Jeff
author-link =
last2 =
first2 =
author2-link =
title = “On the level : a few home truths”
newspaper = Telegraph
pages =
year = 2008
date = 14 October 2008
url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/main.jhtml?xml=/property/2005/05/25/pjeff25.xml] and makes companies vulnerable to economic collapse. He is acknowledged as having predicted the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis, laying it out in his books as early as 1997. Citation
last = Clark
first = Ross
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last2 =
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title = “The man who predicted today's housing woes – ten years ago”
newspaper = The Mail on Sunday
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year = 2008
date = 20 January 2008
url = ]

Early Life

He was born in Cyprus and educated in England,Germany and Singapore. After studying at Ruskin College Oxford he graduated from University College Oxford with a BA (Hons) and read for his MSc at University of London. Harrison lives in London with his wife, Ritacite book | last = O'hara | first = Phillip | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Encyclopedia of Political Economy | publisher = Routledge | date = 2006 | location = England | pages = | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0415187176 ] . They have one daughter.

Career in Journalism

Fred Harrison's first career was in newspaper journalism, working at papers such as the Wellington Journal and Shrewsbury News, in Shropshire. After a stint in news agencies, he moved to The Camberley News as sub-editor, working there for a year before moving to The People newspaper where he became chief reporter.

Most of his stories involved investigating criminal and anti-social behaviour, such as stories about speedway riders buying championship titles, but his most famous and intricate assignment was a long campaign of reports, interviews and interaction with police to convince them to reopen the case on the serial child killings that were called the Moors Murders [cite book | last = Harrison | first = Fred | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Brady and Hindley: Genesis of the Moors Murders | publisher = Ashgrove Press | date = 1986 | location = England | pages = | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0906798701 ] . Due to his efforts, and the cooporation of one of the perpetrators, he was successful in having other disappearances checked which lead to the recovery of an additional body.

Beginnings in Economics

Harrison was appointed Director of a London think-tank, the Centre for Incentive Taxation, in 1987, as his theories on economic incentives and their relationship to the economy as a whole developed. He also wrote a series of books at this time covering economic theory.

Economic Advisor to Russia

With the fall of the USSR, Fred Harrison took an opportunity to work with the Russian government in developing economic policy. He spent 10 years in Russia advising their Federal Parliament (Duma) and local authorities on property tax reform and establishment of land markets. He conducted long-range economic studies, attempting to steer economic policy towards investment in schools, science and healthcare. He was the organizer of the Duma's Land Policy Congress and conducted several hearings and studies commissioned by a wide range of Russian authorities. In 2002 he ended his work in Russia when it became apparent that the trend of investment from resource rents was not into the ventures he had recommended but instead into what he termed conspicuous consumption, such as buying western real estate and football clubs. He wrote "The Silver Bullet"Citation
last = Harrison
first = Fred
author-link =
last2 =
first2 =
author2-link =
title = “Bust will follow boom - but when?”
newspaper = MoneyWeek
pages =
year = 2007
date = 24 October 2007
url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2005/apr/11/economicpolicy.comment ] as a response to his disaffection for the choices of the Russian Duma on these and other issues.

Economist, media figure and author

After his sojourn in Russia, he returned to his work in England. He had already become the Research Director of the Land Research Trust, London, in 1998 and worked as a corporate business advisor, as well as giving lectures on property and tax policy. In 2008 he co-founded Motherlode Ltd. a communication company based in London. He has been widely acclaimed as the only commentator to get the timing of the 2007 recession correct. Notably, he warned Gordon Brown as far back as 1997 that the UK economy would hit the peak of the cycle in 2007 – and turn down into a depression in 2010. Since then, his main focus in both writing and lecturing has been to warn of what he considers to be the dangers of using land and real estate as the primary drivers of economic growth. His work links economic policy to social reform. Harrison's macro-economic analysis is based on the theory that business conforms to a pattern of 18-year cycles, determined by the unique characteristics of the land market.

In the media

Harrison has been very active in the UK media , with dozens of newspaper and magazine articles, and many TV and radio interviews. Since 2005, several commentators have agreed that his predictions have consistently proved correct. As an example, in 2005 there was an almost unanimous viewCitation
last = Heath
first = Allister
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last2 =
first2 =
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title = “Real cost of taxes now more than half UK GDP”
newspaper = Sunday Business (London)
pages =
year =
date = 12-FEB-06
url = ] that the rise in house prices would moderate and that any talk of a "housing bubble" was both premature and indicated an false understanding of debt economics. Harrison warned that there would be a 2-year explosive growth in prices and property speculation before the market imploded in the winter of 2007/08 with heavy damage to the financial markets. As shown by the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis, he was essentially correct on all points.

Both in the UK and worldwide, until 2008 most media commentators and economic theorists dubbed him the ‘Prophet of Doom’ and his pragmatic approach was rebuffed in favour of mainstream assertions that the "new economy" was destined to sustain growth.Citation
last = Seager
first = Ashley
author-link =
last2 =
first2 =
author2-link =
title = “A land tax is 200 years overdue”
newspaper = Guardian
pages =
year = 2007
date = January 8 2007
url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2007/jan/08/tax.business] . Some niche media outlets agreed with his thesis and continued to publish his work. His books are widely distributed. With the collapse of the US and UK banks in 2008, his competing analysis was accepted,Citation
last = Bexel
first = Thomas
author-link =
last2 =
first2 =
author2-link =
title = “Acceptance of the Prophet of Doom?”
newspaper = Yorkshire Post
pages =
year = 2008
date = 14 October 2008
url = ] and he is now engaged primarily in making documentaries to explain and quantify his theories.

External links

* [http://www.fredharrison.org Personal Page]
* [http://www.renegadeeconomist.com Related Site]

Bibliography

* The Renegade Economist
* The Silver Bullet
* Ricardo’s Law: House Prices & the Great Tax Clawback Scam
* Wheels of Fortune: Self-funding Infrastructure and the Free Market Case for a Land Tax
* Boom Bust: House Prices, Banking and the Depression of 2010
* The Losses of Nations
* Metaman & the Sacred Money Scam
* The Chaos Makers (with Prof. F.J. Jones)
* Land-rent Dynamics and the Sustainable Society (with Galina Titova), Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Working Paper
* Land & Taxation (with Dr. N. Tideman et. al.
* The Corruption of Economics (with Dr. M. Gaffney and Dr. K. Feder)
* A Philosophy for a Fair Society (with Dr. M. Hudson et al.)
* The Power in the Land, New York: Universe Books/Canada: Prentice Hall
* Brady & Hindley: Genesis of the Moors Murders, Bath: Ashgrove Press
* Critics of Henry George, Rutherford: Fairleigh Dickinson UP

References