Monopoly, the Game
I’ve played a lot of Monopoly when I was a kid, and like anyone at that age, neither knew nor cared about the history or the origins of the game. So it was kind of a surprise to me to read this history of the game that talked about how it may have been designed to drive home the downside of monopolies and the benefits of co-operation! Officially (and as per the patents record), Monopoly was invented by Charles Darrow. But it looks like a very similar game was invented by Lizzie Magie to teach: “the philosophy of Henry George, a nineteenth-century writer who had popularized the notion that no single person could claim to “own” land.” Henry George was disgusted with the economic system of the day where landowners got rent even though they were doing nothing. Whereas the people who worked on that land and produced value (agricultural or industrial goods) made nothing since most of their income got transferred as land rent. So he concluded that “private property in land...