The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere ElseA renowned economist's classic book on capitalism in the developing world, showing how property rights are the key to overcoming poverty "The hour of capitalism's greatest triumph," writes Hernando de Soto, "is, in the eyes of four-fifths of humanity, its hour of crisis." In The Mystery of Capital, the world-famous Peruvian economist takes up one of the most pressing questions the world faces today: Why do some countries succeed at capitalism while others fail? In strong opposition to the popular view that success is determined by cultural differences, de Soto finds that it actually has everything to do with the legal structure of property and property rights. Every developed nation in the world at one time went through the transformation from predominantly extralegal property arrangements, such as squatting on large estates, to a formal, unified legal property system. In the West we've forgotten that creating this system is what allowed people everywhere to leverage property into wealth. This persuasive book revolutionized our understanding of capital and points the way to a major transformation of the world economy. |
From inside the book
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Page 7
... representing assets with titles , are able to see and draw out capital from them . One of the greatest chal- lenges to the ... represent the invisible potential that is locked up in the assets we accumulate . At this very moment you are ...
... representing assets with titles , are able to see and draw out capital from them . One of the greatest chal- lenges to the ... represent the invisible potential that is locked up in the assets we accumulate . At this very moment you are ...
Page 86
... represents a small minority living on the margin of society , in some countries extralegality has always been the ... represent an important part of the savings and capital formation process . Moreover , the growing contribution of ...
... represents a small minority living on the margin of society , in some countries extralegality has always been the ... represent an important part of the savings and capital formation process . Moreover , the growing contribution of ...
Page 181
... represent the agreement . Similarly , cen- turies before in imperial Rome , Roman law provided that grass and branches were to be passed from hand to hand to represent the legal transfer of property rights . The Japanese , too , had ...
... represent the agreement . Similarly , cen- turies before in imperial Rome , Roman law provided that grass and branches were to be passed from hand to hand to represent the legal transfer of property rights . The Japanese , too , had ...
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Common terms and phrases
Adam Smith advanced nations American apartheid areas bell jar bidonvilles buildings capitalist century cities claim associations Claim Clubs colonial Congress create capital dead capital developing and former developing countries economic elites enforce entrepreneurs erty extrale extralegal arrangements extralegal assets extralegal property extralegal sector extralegal social contracts formal law formal property system former communist countries former communist nations fungible global Haiti Hernando de Soto housing Ibid illegal institutions investment land lawyers legal property system legal system live maps Marx ment migrants million miners Mystery of Capital nomic Office organizations owners ownership percent Peru political politicians poor population Port-au-Prince potential preemption procedures production property arrangements property law property rights protect real estate records reform Registry representations Revolution rules Rural settlement settlers social contracts society squatters squatting statutes surplus value Third World tion tomahawk rights transactions United urban West World and former