The Mystery Of Capital Why Capitalism Succeeds In The West And Fails Everywhere Else"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 the question that, more than any other, is central to one of the most crucial problems 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 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 informal, extralegal ownership to a formal, unified legal property system, but in the West we've forgotten that creating this system is also what allowed people everywhere to leverage property into wealth. This persuasive book will revolutionize our understanding of capital and point the way to a major transformation of the world economy. |
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Page 42
... potential it holds to deploy new production . This potential is , of course , abstract . It must be processed and fixed into a tangible form before we can release it - just like the potential nuclear energy in Einstein's brick . Without ...
... potential it holds to deploy new production . This potential is , of course , abstract . It must be processed and fixed into a tangible form before we can release it - just like the potential nuclear energy in Einstein's brick . Without ...
Page 44
... potential of a particular asset in order to convert it into capital . Third World and former communist nations are infa- mous for inflating their economies with money — while not being able to generate much capital . The Potential ...
... potential of a particular asset in order to convert it into capital . Third World and former communist nations are infa- mous for inflating their economies with money — while not being able to generate much capital . The Potential ...
Page 45
... potential into the kinetic energy of tumbling water . This new kinetic energy can then rotate turbines , creating mechanical energy that can be used to turn electromagnets that further con- vert it into electrical energy . As ...
... potential into the kinetic energy of tumbling water . This new kinetic energy can then rotate turbines , creating mechanical energy that can be used to turn electromagnets that further con- vert it into electrical energy . As ...
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Common terms and phrases
Adam Smith advanced nations American apartheid areas bell jar build CALIFORNIA/SANTA CRUZ capitalist century cities claim associations Claim Clubs colonial Congress create capital CRUZ The University dead capital developing and former 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 housing Ibid institutions investment land lawyers legal property system legal system maps Marx ment Michel Foucault migrants million miners nomic Office organizations owners ownership percent Peru political politicians poor population Port-au-Prince potential preemption production property arrangements property law property rights protect real estate records reform Registry representations Revolution rules Rural settlement settlers social contracts squatters squatting statutes surplus value Third World tion tomahawk rights transactions United University Library UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA/SANTA urban West World and former