The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Succeeds in the West and Fails Everywhere Else by Hernando de Soto, Hernando De Soto

From the Publisher

From the most important economist in the Third World, a revolutionary and practical plan for transforming underperforming economies-based on the forgotten history of how wealth was created in the West."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.

Praise for Hernando de Soto's The Other Path:

"The Other Path should be required reading for all American policy-makers dealing with Latin America and the Third World in general." -Richard Nixon

"Mr. de Soto's prescription offers a clear and promising alternative to economic stagnation in Latin America and other parts of the world." -George Bush

"[The ILD's] ideas on economic citizenship and the essential link between economic and political freedoms within democratic communities hold great promise for development in Latin America." -Bill Clinton

"The best way to understand Latin America's problems and issues is to read The Other Path." -Bill Bradley

Economist

The most intelligent book yet written about the current challenge of establishing capitalism in the developing world.

Commentary

". . .de Soto convincingly demonstrates, the road to worldwide prosperity requires not restraining capitalism but making it universal.

Globe and Mail

. . .a significant contribution to understanding how the poorest nations can use their own legal system to manage their way out of poverty.

Bookpage

. . .a challenging and fresh thinking theory that flies in the face of traditional notions of Third World poverty.

Raleigh News & Observer

It is one of the most provocative and potentially important works on development to appear in some time.

Industry Standard

An increasingly important economist provides a fascinating lesson in why capitalism works by looking at the places where it doesn't.

(Editor-in-Chief, Forbes Global) - Laurence Minoral

If a nonmathematician can win a Nobel Prize in Economics, I nominate de Soto.

Business Week

. . . [de Soto] performs a valuable service. .

Los Angeles Times Book Review

. . .impassioned and thoughtful. .

Kirkus Reviews

A provocative and revolutionary analysis of the nature of capital, the ineffectiveness of capitalistic reform in developing nations, and the ways in which those countries can harness their latent economic potential.

What People Are Saying

Francis Fukuyama
. . . 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 End of History and The Last Man)

Jeane Kirkpatrick
Following on his extraordinary and highly original book The Other Path... this book, too, is another tour de force. (Jeane Kirkpatrick, Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations)

William F. Buckley Jr.
This book changes our understanding of where capital comes from. The consequences could be world-shattering. (William F. Buckley Jr., Founder-Editor of the National Review)

Senator Bill Bradley
For policy-makers, international investors, and those who care about the challenges of developing countries. . .

Ronald Coase
A very great book...powerful and completely convincing. It will have a salutary effect on the views held on economic development. (Ronald Coase, Nobel Laureate in Economics)

Lord David Owen
Fresh thinking is rare - this book has the capacity to transform economies . . .. (Lord David Owen, Former Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, European Union Chairman of the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia)

Lady Margaret Thatcher
It should be compulsory reading for all in charge of the 'Wealth of Nations. (Lady Margaret Thatcher, Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom)

Javier Perez de Cuellar
A crucial contribution. A new proposal for change that is valid for the whole world. (Javier Perez de Cuellar, Former Secretary of the United Nations)

Product Details

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents