commonwealth.ca, ubiworks.ca · essays
Floyd Marinescu is the founder of Common Wealth Canada and UBI Works, co-founder of InfoQ and QCon.
One idea behind the history and future of human progress.
Progress.org is an independent publication on the history and future of human progress — and on the single idea that holds the whole project together: that the value of land and natural opportunity should belong to all of us, not be privately captured by the few.
The mission
One root, one cure.
Almost every modern problem we treat as permanent — extreme inequality, unaffordable housing, stagnant wages, an economy hooked on speculation, even ecological destruction — traces back to the same root, and shares the same cure.
When societies share the rent of land, things start to change in concrete ways. For a short overview, read Ten Things That Would Happen If We Shared the Value of Land.
We publish long, slow essays on this idea and its history, learning paths that turn the archive into a course you can finish in a weekend, and an open, cite-checked wiki. Everything is free to read, free to copy, and paid for by a community of members.
100
essays published
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wiki entries
9
learning paths
58
contributors
The vision
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Ten things that would change if we shared the value of land.
01
End of extreme wealth inequality
Drastic wealth gaps narrow as everyone has affordable access to land and locations.
02
Banks invest in the economy
Capital flows into businesses that produce real wealth instead of speculative real estate.
03
A booming economy
Productive investment expands; deadweight loss from bad taxes disappears.
04
Higher wages
With businesses no longer paying rent to landowners and banks, wages rise across the board — jobs chase people, not the other way round.
05
Most taxes fall away
Public revenue can be raised from land instead of work, savings, and trade.
06
Affordable housing
Locations and buildings stop being artificially scarce; homelessness ends.
07
Basic income becomes affordable
Welfare programs can be simplified or replaced with a citizen's dividend.
08
No more urban sprawl
Existing land is used efficiently instead of held idle.
09
A healthier environment
People and companies no longer have to degrade the natural world just to make a living.
10
More happiness
Fewer people struggle to meet basic needs — and a fairer society is a happier one for almost everyone in it.
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Progress.org was launched in May 2026 and is edited by Floyd Marinescu and Martin Adams.