The Land Trap

A New History of the World's Oldest Asset

De: Mike Bird

Narrado por: Mike Bird

How the world’s oldest asset secretly shapes our modern economy

In The Land Trap, Mike Bird—Wall Street editor at The Economist—reveals how this ancient asset still exerts outsize influence over the modern world. From the speculative land grabs of colonial America to China's real estate crisis today, Bird shows how fortunes are built—and destroyed—on the bedrock of land.

Tracing three centuries of history, Bird explores how land quietly became the linchpin of the global banking system, driving everything from soaring housing prices to rising geopolitical tensions. As governments wrestle with inequality and land grows ever scarcer, The Land Trap offers a powerful new framework for understanding the hidden force behind today's most urgent challenges.

This is the book for anyone who wants to see beyond markets and money to the real game being played on a foundation as old as civilization itself. Timely, provocative, and essential, The Land Trap will change how you see the ground beneath your feet.

©2025 Mike Bird (P)2025 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

Financial Times Business Book of the Year 2025 Longlist

“A thought-provoking look at the little-examined role of land in making the rich richer and the poor poorer.”—Kirkus

“The Land Trap is a phenomenal tale of the original asset to beat all others. From America's wild frontier to the skyscrapers of today's Singapore and the ghost cities produced by China's wild real-estate boom, Mike Bird takes the reader on a wonderful exploration of how land remains at the heart of the global economy even today.”—Robin Wigglesworth, author of Trillions

"We know that land can neither be created nor destroyed, but what The Land Trap shows is that it also can no longer be ignored. Mike Bird walks his reader through what makes humanity's most ancient asset so special—and how it has shaped modern history. A sweeping political, intellectual, and economic history that illuminates today’s thorniest challenges—from the housing crisis to geopolitical power. An indispensable read."—Jerusalem Demsas, editor in chief at The Argument