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Association for Georgist Studies Board
MARY M. CLEVELAND, Ph.D., Executive Director
Mary M. Cleveland (Polly) discovered the ideas of Henry George in 1970, while working on a Ralph Nader project investigating the political influence of large California landowners. Subsequently she served on the board of the Henry George School of San Francisco, and was President in 1973.
Dr. Cleveland received an AB in Physics from Harvard in 1966, and a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1984. Her dissertation, entitled Consequences and Causes of Unequal Distribution of Wealth, took some of George's basic arguments and showed that they could be demonstrated using standard neo-classical economic models. The models show, among other things, that in a world with transactions costs, unequal distribution of wealth lowers an economy's productivity and growth.
She has worked as the controller of small family pharmaceutical company, taught accounting and computer systems at Rutgers University, and supervised the renovation of two apartment buildings in Manhattan. From 1994 to 2002, she was the Director of Research at The Partnership for Responsible Drug Information, (prdi.org) a non-profit that encourages open and well-informed discussion of drug policy. From 1994 to 2004, she was on the board of the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation which publishes the works of Henry George, and was President in the last year.
From 2002 to 2005, she has audited classes and worked as a TA at Barnard College, filling in gaps in her education, notably in history of thought and economic history.
Dr. Cleveland lives in New York City. Her email is mcleveland@prdi.org
GREGG K. ERICKSON
Gregg Erickson is an economist and expert on natural resource policy in Alaska. He played a major role in designing and implementing the Alaska Permanent Fund, which pays annual dividends to all Alaska citizens from a fund derived from oil revenues. He has published extensively on issues of taxation, economic development, and management of oil and timber. He has also held appointments to Alaska state offices and lectured at the University of Alaska. He maintains an economic consulting business, Erickson & Associates, in Juneau Alaska.
Mr. Erickson lives in Juneau. His email address is gerickso@alaska.com.
M. MASON GAFFNEY, Ph.D.
Mason Gaffney first read Henry George when a high school junior. After he served in the S.W. Pacific during W.W. II, this interest led him back to get a Ph.D. in Economics at Berkeley, where he tried to meet his teachers' skepticism and apathy with a dissertation, "Land Speculation as an Obstacle to Ideal Allocation of Land." Since then he has published many books and articles on land use, economics, taxation, and public policy. He has been a Professor of Economics at several Universities; a journalist with TIME, Inc.; a researcher with Resources for the Future, Inc.; the head of the British Columbia Institute for Economic Policy Analysis, which he founded; an economic consultant to several businesses and government agencies; and a frequent speaker on economic topics, domestic and foreign, and in political campaigns. He is married to Letitia Atwood, and the father of six. He has been Professor of Economics at U.C. Riverside since 1976.
His books and monographs include Concepts of Financial Maturity of Timber; LAND: A Special Issue (of House and Home Magazine); Extractive Resources and Taxation; Oil and Gas Leasing Policy for Alaska, 1977; and The Corruption of Economics.
His better-known articles include "Urban Expansion: Will it Ever Stop?"; "Diseconomies Inherent in Western Water Law"; "Land and Rent in Welfare Economics"; "Economic Aspects of Water Resource Policy"; "A Critique of Federal Water Policy"; "The Taxable Surplus in Water Resources"; "Water Marketing: California's New Frontier"; "Land Rent, Taxation, and Public Policy"; "Containment Policies for Urban Sprawl"; "Property Taxes and the Frequency of Urban Renewal"; "The Property Tax is a Progressive Tax"; "Adequacy of Land as a Tax Base"; "Soil Depletion and Land Rent"; "Social and Economic Impacts of Foreign Investment in U.S. Land"; "Land Reform through Tax Reform"; "Land as a Distinctive Factor of Production"; "Rising Concentration and Falling Property Tax Rates"; "How to Revive a Dying City"; "Economic Analysis and Air Conservation"; "The Partiality of Indexing Capital Gains"; "Privatizing Land without Giveaway"; "The Income-stimulating Incentives of the Property Tax"; "Taxation of Mobile Capital in a Global Free Market -- Opportunities and Threats for Low Tax Countries"; "International Tax Competition: Harmful or Beneficial?"; "Toward Full Employment with Limited Land and Capital"; "Alfred Russel Wallace's Campaign to Nationalize Land"; and "Henry George, Dr. Edward McGlynn, and Pope Leo XIII."
Dr. Gaffney lives in Riverside, CA. His email is m.gaffney@surfcity.net.
FRANCIS K. PEDDLE, Ph.D. President
Francis Peddle is currently Director of Research for the Canadian Research Committee on Taxation (CRCT) and Treasurer of the Henry George Foundation of Canada. He received his doctorate in philosophy from Boston University in 1983 and is at present a part-time professor of philosophy at the Dominican College of Philosophy and Theology in Ottawa. His publications in this area are primarily focused on the history of philosophy, philosophy of history, ethics and the philosophy of civilization.
Dr. Peddle is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada. He operates a law firm in Ottawa which concentrates on income tax litigation and property tax appeals. He has appeared at many levels of courts including Ontario's Superior Court of Justice, the Assessment Review Board, the Ontario Municipal Board, the Tax Court of Canada and the Federal Court of Appeal.
As Director of Research for the CRCT, Dr. Peddle has made numerous presentations before various governmental tax commissions and finance committees. His latest report is a land value tax impact study of the City of Montreal, significant portions of which were adopted by the Bedard Commission (April, 1999). Two recent books authored by Dr. Peddle are Cities and Greed and Henry George and the End of Tax Commissions.
Dr. Peddle lives in Ottawa. His email is fpeddle@bellnet.ca.
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