Drawing copiously on American economist Henry George, Poverty Is Not Natural (Shepheard-Walwyn, £9.95) by George Curtis argues that the root cause of poverty is neither providence, fate nor implacable market forces, but property rights in land (in short, land ownership). Rather than continue to stick plasters on poverty, Curtis forwards a simple solution to eradicate it: abolish the current tax system and charge instead a single land-value tax (to be paid in the form of an annual ground rent). The moral case is strong but the answer feels quixotic for our complex, global economy.