Martin Jacobson
Dr. Martin Jacobson’s research focuses on the political theory of geoism, also known as left-libertarianism
Dr. Martin Jacobson’s research focuses on the political theory of geoism, also known as left-libertarianism. Geoism combines both economic and normative theory critiquing the private appropriation of the economic rents from land. Economically, geoists argue that such appropriation is a major cause of systematic economic inequality and poverty. Normatively, geoists argue that such appropriation is inherently unjust since no one created the land. Hence, geoists argue that the economic value of land should belong to everyone equally and that taxes should be shifted from wages and savings to land values.
Martin defended his Ph.D. thesis Land & Liberty: On the Natural Monopoly of Violence at the Department of Government at Uppsala University in 2024. The thesis explores the relationship between geoism and anarchism. The main argument of the thesis is that there is a close isomorphism between the territorial authority of states and private landownership. Hence, the geoist critique of landownership extends to a critique of territorial state authority, while the anarchist critique of state authority extends to a critique of landownership. Finally, the thesis inquires to what extent geoism and anarchism could be reconciled with each other.
During his fellowship at the Norwegian Nobel Institute, Martin will inter alia develop aspects from his monograph Ph.D. thesis to article and book format.
Martin has recently secured funding from the Swedish Research Council for a three-year postdoc project, entitled Towards a Natural Theory of Political Equality, which will run from 2025 to 2028. Based at Uppsala University, the project will investigate land rights and geoist theory in relationship to political equality. Especially, the project will focus on democratic theory, social contract theory, and distributive justice. During the project, Martin will spend the academic year 2025-26 as a guest researcher at Virginia Tech, in 2026-2027 he will return to Oslo and the Norwegian Nobel Institute, as a guest researcher, before completing his project in Uppsala in 2027-2028.
Selected publications
Tideman, Nicolaus & Martin Jacobson. “Geoism” in Encyclopedia of Global Justice. (2nd ed.) Ed. Joshua Kassner. Springer: Dordrecht. (Co-authored. Under review.)
Jacobson, Martin. “The Virtues of Virtue Signalling” Giving What We Can Blog. November 20, 2024. Available online at: < https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/en/blog/the-virtues-of-virtue-signaling >
Jacobson, Martin. Land & Liberty: On the Natural Monopoly of Violence. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis: Uppsala. 2024. Available online at: < https://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1852324/FULLTEXT01.pdf >
Jacobson, Martin. ”Geoism as Part of the Left-Libertarian Tradition” Progress and Poverty Substack. October 11, 2023. Available online at < https://progressandpoverty.substack.com/p/geoism-as-part-of-the-left-libertarian >