Absentee ownership


  • Inaccessible absentee landlords
  • Uninvolved absentee landlords
  • Obscure land ownership
  • Outside business ownership
  • Non-resident home ownership
  • Absence of land holders
  • Absentee landlords of urban property
  • Uncontactable owners

Description

In economics, an absentee landlord is a person who owns and rents out a profit-earning property, but does not live within the property's local economic region. The term "absentee ownership" was popularised by economist Thorstein Veblen's 1923 book of the same name, Absentee Ownership. Overall, tax policy seems to favour absentee ownership. However, some jurisdictions seek to extract money from absentee owners by taxing land. Absentee ownership has sometimes put the absentee owners at risk of loss.
Source: Wikipedia

Background

Absentee ownership has been a political and social issue for centuries, well-known examples being the court mobility in pre-revolutionary France and English landowners in 19th century Ireland.

Incidence

In the USA two-thirds of land rented out is owned by absentee landlords. In Latin America up to 90% of large landowners are absentee. Today in Brazil, which has probably the most inequitable land ownership pattern in Latin America, fully 1% of the population possess over 45% of the land. But also in developed countries this is the case. A recent survey conducted in Scotland reveals that two-thirds of the privately owned land is held by just 1,000 people. These would represent one-fiftieth of one percent of the population, were it not that many are absentee landlords and therefore non-resident. They include English aristocrats, Arabian oil sheikhs, Swiss bankers, South African industrialists, racing car drivers, pop stars, arms dealers and others not noted for their socio ecological awareness. Their sole qualification to own Scotland is that they are rich.


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