Pat,

This interesting discussion is quiet for a moment, but
something which should be addressed came up several times.
This is the belief that it is difficult to measure economic
rent.

I was assured by people who were there at that time that
before WWI the town of Weston, now part of Toronto, held a
town meeting to measure Weston land values. So this is
double hearsay.

A map of Weston was prominently displayed and the Chairman
asked: "If you had a peanut stand, where in Weston would you
sell the most peanuts?"

None of the townsfolk had any doubt - it was on the corner
of Weston and Church. The Chairman wrote '100%' on that
location.

"Would you sell as many peanuts on the next corner?"

The townsfolk figured perhaps 90%. 

"Halfway down the block?" Much less.

Soon the map of Weston was filled with percentages.

The following week the townspeople met again. This time the
owner of Church and Weston was present. As a result, some of
the percentages were changed.

I was told that a couple of years later, the town was
professionally valued and the their land value maps were
very close to the 'peanut' valuation.
 
This story does demonstrate the nature of land Rents. They
relate to each other. In a street of buildings, each
improvement may be different from the others. A high-rise
may be next to a vacant lot, which is next to a small house,
which is adjacent to a rundown apartment building.

Each improvement is different, but it is likely every
location Rent will be the same. When Rents change they do so
smoothly rather like sand dunes. Improvement values, except
perhaps in subdivisions, often 'spike' so each improvement
must be separately valued. 

The Danes used to value land by streets. Every lot on the
street would have the same value. I am assured by one of our
foremost assessors that Danish street valuation is "used
everywhere".

The Danes very effectively valued and collected Rent for
decades across the whole country.

If anyone is would like to pursue this a little further I
would be happy to describe how they did it, while making the
process transparent and easy to understand, even as they
made graft all but impossible.

Perhaps it's a little bit of the History of Economics that
has dropped from sight!

Harry Pollard