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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Page 8
... protect itself and the rest of the world as soon as the prosperity of the moment yields to the crisis that is sure to come. Then the question that always arises in international crises will be heard again: Whose money will be used to ...
... protect itself and the rest of the world as soon as the prosperity of the moment yields to the crisis that is sure to come. Then the question that always arises in international crises will be heard again: Whose money will be used to ...
Page 17
... protected their interests with thick wrappings of rules and regulations. After 1950, there began in the Third World an economic revolution similar to the social and economic disruptions in Europe in 1800. New machines were reducing the ...
... protected their interests with thick wrappings of rules and regulations. After 1950, there began in the Third World an economic revolution similar to the social and economic disruptions in Europe in 1800. New machines were reducing the ...
Page 21
... protect and mobilize their assets. These arrangements result from a combination of rules selectively borrowed from the official legal system, ad hoc improvisations, and customs brought from their FIGURE 22 Procedure to formalize ...
... protect and mobilize their assets. These arrangements result from a combination of rules selectively borrowed from the official legal system, ad hoc improvisations, and customs brought from their FIGURE 22 Procedure to formalize ...
Page 29
... protected by law.... Mechanisms used in market economies to protect land rights are still in their infancy.... The State itself continues to restrict use rights on land that it does not own.”3 Estimates based on electricity consumption ...
... protected by law.... Mechanisms used in market economies to protect land rights are still in their infancy.... The State itself continues to restrict use rights on land that it does not own.”3 Estimates based on electricity consumption ...
Page 46
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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