Rent is not earned by individuals ... but is unearned. This is obvious for two simple reasons:
  • First, rent cannot be earned by individuals because land is not man-made but nature-made. It is not a product of capital and labor, but is a free gift of the Creator.
  • Second, rent cannot be earned by individuals because land values can only arise through the growth of population and the progress of society as a whole. No one man can make land values any more than he can make the land itself. Land values spring from the demand for land and to cause this demand a community of people is necessary. If the community is small or unprogressive, land values will be very low; if it is large or progressive, land values will be very high.

– Emil Jorgensen: False Education in our Colleges and Universities (1925), available at HathiTrust.org