The Land Trap

A New History of the World's Oldest Asset

Mike Bird

$34.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

Hodder & Stoughton
04 November 2025

Industrialisation & industrial history; Economic history

Our obsession with land is the driving force behind human history. It has sparked revolutions and fuelled economic booms as well as financial crises. Land is the world's oldest and most important asset, and it governs the course of our lives more than any other form of wealth. But this immense power is also what makes it so dangerous.

In The Land Trap, The Economist's Wall Street editor Mike Bird reveals a sweeping, global history that shows how fortunes have been built - or destroyed - all on the bedrock of land. It has become the linchpin of the world's banking system and it affects everything from soaring housing prices to geopolitical tensions. From the speculative land grabs of colonial America to China's modern-day real estate crisis, this gripping narrative shows how the economics of land can make and break families, businesses, and even entire nations.

This is the book for anyone who wants to see beyond markets and money to the hidden game being played out on the ground beneath our feet.

By: Mike Bird
Imprint: Hodder & Stoughton
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 232mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 28mm
Weight: 420g
ISBN: 9781399733687
ISBN 10: 1399733680
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 04 November 2025
Audience: General/trade , Professional and scholarly , General/trade , ELT Advanced , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Mike Bird is Asia business and finance editor for The Economist, writing about financial markets, economic development and major corporations across the continent. He is based in Singapore, and is one of the presenters of The Economist's premier financial podcast, Money Talks. He was previously a financial columnist and market reporter at the Wall Street Journal, based in London and Hong Kong. In 2016 he won the prestigious Harold Wincott Award for young financial journalist of the year and in 2020 was a part of the Wall Street Journal's team that won the Human Rights Press Award for the paper's coverage of the Hong Kong protest movement the previous year. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society. Before becoming a journalist, he studied history and politics at the University of Exeter in the UK.

Reviews for The Land Trap: A New History of the World's Oldest Asset

One of those books that changes the way you see the world. Gripping, urgent, important. If you want to understand the ways we are all being shaped by the ground beneath our feet, you need to read The Land Trap. -- ED CONWAY author of Sunday Times bestseller Material World This wonderful book is as welcome as it is overdue. Land values are a problem hiding in plain sight; something visibly problematic and unpleasant where economists and commentators have simply chosen to look the other way. The Land Trap shines a much-needed light on this essential topic. -- RORY SUTHERLAND Vice Chairman of Ogilvy and author of Alchemy The Land Trap looks at history, society and finance from an unusual but essential perspective. Ranging from colonial America to modern China, Mike Bird identifies the toxic blend of land and speculation which has repeatedly laid financial systems low. This is a deftly written tale of ignored prophets, well-meaning reformers, self-interested politicians and greedy landlords that will interest anyone who has looked at a city skyline and wondered why it looks the way it does. -- LEWIS BASTON author of Borderlines