It’s been over three years since I blogged about free land available to anyone who wants to use it, and now CNBC has an article (more conveniently accessible via Yahoo, but with fewer pictures) about 7 Towns Where Land is Free. Each place has some requirements, basically that you must build something and you must conform to local codes. In most places you need not pay for the land but of course you’ll be liable for future taxes. Even if we go back to the Homestead Act, you had to eventually pay ($1.25/acre) for and use the land you claimed.
Of course, there are probably thousands of towns in America where $1,000 will get you a decent lot, and if you can’t afford $1,000 you may not be able to build anything anyway.
Thinking in terms of Progress & Poverty, such free or cheap lands are, for practical purposes, approximately at the margin of production. As the towns grow, one could expect the land value to increase; however it is unlikely that any of these towns will grow substantially any time soon.