In his new book, Henry George and the Crisis of Inequality: Progress and Poverty in the Gilded Age (Columbia University Press, 2015), author Edward T. O’Donnell brings a fresh examination of the influential reformer Henry George, and the tumultuous period known as the Gilded Age (1870-1900). George emerged in the 1880s as a prominent reformer who warned about the threats posed to American democracy by increasing poverty, inequality, and corporate influence in politics. George played a key role in popularizing some of the foundational ideas of progressivism that shaped U.S. social and economic policy in the 20th century. This topic has major relevance for contemporary U.S. society as it confronts similar questions about poverty, inequality, and corporate power, in what some have taken to calling a Second Gilded Age.

Edward T. O’Donnell, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of History at Holy Cross College in Worcester, MA. In addition to Henry George and the Crisis of Inequality: Progress and Poverty in the Gilded Age, he is the author of Ship Ablaze: The Tragedy of the Steamboat General Slocum (Random House, 2003), and co-author of the U.S. history college-level textbook, Visions of America: A History of the United States 2nd edition (Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2012). His scholarly articles have appeared in the Public Historian, Journal of Urban History, and the Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. O’Donnell has created video courses for the Great Courses Company titled, “Turning Points in American History” and “America in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era.” He also writes a blog on American history, In The Past Lane.

The annual conference of the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) offers state and local assessing officials the opportunity to hear varied perspectives on property tax policy from eminent economists, academics, and practitioners who have a special interest in property taxation. Each year, the Lincoln Institute sponsors a seminar for conference participants on current issues in property tax policy. This year’s sessions will focus on “Tax Increment Financing: Policy and Administrative Challenges.”

This week-long professional development course offers students the opportunity to assess and challenge their understanding of fundamental topics related to urban informality. Participants will examine tools on informal economic analysis, land markets and pricing, as well as the development of informal settlements in Latin American cities. Students will deepen their knowledge on different intervention tools and land tenure regularization processes by means of case studies from Latin America, the Caribbean and other regions.

This course presents students with the fundamental concepts and tools of economic theory needed to form a critical analysis of the factors that influence land prices in both formal and informal markets. Students will examine the origins of land prices along with the foundations of urban economics in order to better analyze the effects that the regulation of real-estate markets has on land prices.

Planners in industrialized countries have developed and disseminated a set of prescriptions to address informality. These prescriptions have been embraced by multilateral agencies and turned into public policies in Latin America. The objectives of this course are to present the basic features of the approaches underpinning current policies toward the informal city in Latin America and to explain their origins, central ideas and basic premises, emphasizing issues related to land policies. Specific requirements: The course is aimed at professionals who have participated or are participating in the implementation of policies against informal cities.

The video classes are multimedia treatments of diverse topics related to urban land policy. Developed to support both moderated and self-paced courses of the Program on Latin America and the Caribbean’s distance education, they are also well suited to generate discussion in neighborhood associations, professional associations, public entities and other groups interested in these topics. Videos are presented primarily in Spanish.

Proper alignment of real estate valuation or assessments with its market value is central to achieving equity in the distribution of tax burdens. Understanding valuation methods allows one to maximize skills, minimize limitations, and identify the most appropriate tools and techniques for each case. This course addresses the issues related to mass appraisal of real estate with emphasis on fiscal uses. Elements needed to build a system that can support cadastral appraisals in a fair and efficient way are presented and discussed. Specific requirements: Participants must have knowledge of property valuation methods and mastery of general statistics (measures of central tendency, dispersion analysis, linear regression).

Proper alignment of real estate valuation or assessments with market value is central to achieving equity in the distribution of tax burdens. Understanding valuation methods allows one to maximize skills, minimize the limitations and identify the most appropriate tools and techniques for each case. The course, offered in Spanish, addresses issues related to mass appraisal of real estate, with emphasis on fiscal uses. Material is presented and discussed including the elements necessary to build a system that can support cadastral appraisals in a fair and efficient way.

Specific requirements: Participants must have knowledge of property valuation methods and mastery of general statistics (measures of central tendency, dispersion analysis, linear regression).

This course is especially designed to provide an understanding about current urban issues in Latin American cities and their roots in land and urban policies to a journalism audience. Mass media and journalism professionals have great potential to inform the public regarding cities and their problems as well as influence urban and land policy. The course will cover the fundamentals of land markets (land use and price determination), the nature and limits of property rights in Latin American legislation, and alternative land-based tools for financing urban (re)development. Special attention will be given to new urban planning instruments currently being applied in the region, including value capture, inclusionary zoning, and regularization of informal settlements.