The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere ElseA renowned economist argues for the importance of property rights in "the most intelligent book yet written about the current challenge of establishing capitalism in the developing world" (Economist) "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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... world's trendiest economist, a genius of property rights.” —Slate.com “De ... developing countries, this book will offer new perspectives on—and possible ... world's shanty towns into, as he memorably puts it, 'acres of diamonds'.” —The ...
... world's trendiest economist, a genius of property rights.” —Slate.com “De ... developing countries, this book will offer new perspectives on—and possible ... world's shanty towns into, as he memorably puts it, 'acres of diamonds'.” —The ...
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... world.” —Javier Perez de Cuellar, former Secretary General of the United Nations “We must read de Soto for his acute ... Third World and ex-communist countries—the lack of a rule of law that upholds private property and provides a ...
... world.” —Javier Perez de Cuellar, former Secretary General of the United Nations “We must read de Soto for his acute ... Third World and ex-communist countries—the lack of a rule of law that upholds private property and provides a ...
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... Third World. . . . The Mystery of Capital constitutes one of the few new and genuinely promising approaches to overcoming poverty to come along in a very long time.” —Francis Fukuyama, author of The Great Disruption “Hernando de Soto ...
... Third World. . . . The Mystery of Capital constitutes one of the few new and genuinely promising approaches to overcoming poverty to come along in a very long time.” —Francis Fukuyama, author of The Great Disruption “Hernando de Soto ...
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... Third World and former communist nations have balanced their budgets, cut subsidies, welcomed foreign investment, and dropped their tariff barriers. Their efforts have been repaid with bitter disappointment. From Russia to Venezuela ...
... Third World and former communist nations have balanced their budgets, cut subsidies, welcomed foreign investment, and dropped their tariff barriers. Their efforts have been repaid with bitter disappointment. From Russia to Venezuela ...
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... Third World and former communist nations cannot escape the influence of the West, neither can the West disentangle itself from them. Adverse reactions to capitalism have also been growing stronger within rich countries themselves. The ...
... Third World and former communist nations cannot escape the influence of the West, neither can the West disentangle itself from them. Adverse reactions to capitalism have also been growing stronger within rich countries themselves. The ...
Contents
1 | |
15 | |
C H A P T E R T H R E E The Mystery of Capital | 39 |
C H A P T E R F O U R The Mystery of Political Awareness | 69 |
C HAP T E R F I V E The Missing Lessons of US History | 105 |
C H A P T E R S I X The Mystery of Legal Failure | 153 |
C HAP T E R S EV E N By Way of Conclusion | 207 |
Notes | 229 |
Acknowledgments | 241 |
Appendix | 249 |
Index | 259 |
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Common terms and phrases
advanced nations American apartheid areas assets bell jar buildings capitalist 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 property extralegal sector extralegal social contracts formal law formal property system former communist countries former communist nations fungible global Haiti Hernando de Soto Ibid illegal industrial institutions investment land lawyers legal property system legal system live maps Marx ment Michel Foucault migrants million miners Mystery of Capital nomic official law organizations owners ownership people’s percent Peru political politicians poor population Port-au-Prince potential preemption problem production property arrangements property law property rights protect real estate records reform Revolution rules Rural settlement settlers social contracts society squatters squatting surplus value Third World tion tomahawk rights Total transactions undercapitalized United urban West World and former