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The Mystery Of Capital Why Capitalism Succeeds In The West And Fails Everywhere Else
 
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The Mystery Of Capital Why Capitalism Succeeds In The West And Fails Everywhere Else [Hardcover]

Hernando De Soto (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (88 customer reviews)

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It's become clear by now the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism in most places around the globe hasn't ushered in an unequivocal flowering of capitalism in the developing and postcommunist world. Western thinkers have blamed this on everything from these countries' lack of sellable assets to their inherently non-entrepreneurial "mindset." In this book, the renowned Peruvian economist and adviser to presidents and prime ministers Hernando de Soto proposes and argues another reason: it's not that poor, postcommunist countries don't have the assets to make capitalism flourish. As de Soto points out by way of example, in Egypt, the wealth the poor have accumulated is worth 55 times as much as the sum of all direct foreign investment ever recorded there, including that spent on building the Suez Canal and the Aswan Dam.

No, the real problem is that such countries have yet to establish and normalize the invisible network of laws that turns assets from "dead" into "liquid" capital. In the West, standardized laws allow us to mortgage a house to raise money for a new venture, permit the worth of a company to be broken up into so many publicly tradable stocks, and make it possible to govern and appraise property with agreed-upon rules that hold across neighborhoods, towns, or regions. This invisible infrastructure of "asset management"--so taken for granted in the West, even though it has only fully existed in the United States for the past 100 years--is the missing ingredient to success with capitalism, insists de Soto. But even though that link is primarily a legal one, he argues that the process of making it a normalized component of a society is more a political--or attitude-changing--challenge than anything else.

With a fleet of researchers, de Soto has sought out detailed evidence from struggling economies around the world to back up his claims. The result is a fascinating and solidly supported look at the one component that's holding much of the world back from developing healthy free markets. --Timothy Murphy

From Booklist

The author, president of an influential Peruvian think tank and a prominent Third World economist, sets out to solve the mystery of why some people in the world can create capital and others cannot. Outside the West, in countries as different as Russia and Peru, it is not religion, culture, or race issues that are blocking the spread of capitalism but the lack of a legal process for making property systems work. Implementing major legal change so as to establish a capitalist order involves changing peoples' beliefs, and de Soto contends this is a political rather than a^B legal responsibility. He believes such a change can be achieved if governments seriously focus upon the needs of their poor citizens for a legally integrated property system that can convert their work and savings into capital. Political action is necessary to ensure that government officials seriously accept the real disparity of living conditions among their people, adopt a social contract, and then overhaul their legal system. Mary Whaley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Customer Reviews

88 Reviews
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2 star:
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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (88 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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5.0 out of 5 stars Food For Thought, Jun 9 2002
By 
"tagreacca" (Modesto, CA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Mystery Of Capital Why Capitalism Succeeds In The West And Fails Everywhere Else (Hardcover)
The last book I read by an economist was over thirty years ago. The book, Das Kapital by Karl Marx, pretty much did me in at wanting to read writings by an economist, so I wasn't sure what to expect when I began this text by Hernando De Soto. I was pleasantly surprised at both how readable it was and the simple power of what is being said. Having earned a Masters in Management with a specialty in International Development, I have to admit at being surprised that I could have missed something so basic as the need to legitimize underground economies, the value of property ownership, and the ability to leverage property ownership, thus creating capital and capital in turn being the life blood of capitalism.

My hat is off to Hernando De Soto and I recommend this book to anyone who cares about the problems of the other two thirds of the world. I especially want to recommend it to people involved in International Development. I have already contacted some of my grad school professors to alert them to this work. I believe that it has serious value in the academic world as a means to create talking points and challenge long held views. If you are looking for answers to one of our planet's more lingering problems (why well meaning International Development efforts continue to fail despite the billions of dollars we pour into them), read this book!

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2.0 out of 5 stars Mediocre, May 10 2002
By 
This review is from: The Mystery Of Capital Why Capitalism Succeeds In The West And Fails Everywhere Else (Hardcover)
I would have given 3 stars to this book but coming from a recognised economist as Hernando de Soto I give it only two. Although the book explains in what consists his proposal for the development of the third world, he repeats his idea too much through out the chapters. The examples and methods mentioned didn't satisfy my curiosity for his theory. The book looks more a marketing scheme for selling his idea, which isn't a bad thing, but considering the seriousness of the theme, I would have expected a more professional layout.

After reading this book,go and buy The Myth of Development : Non-Viable Economies and National Survival in the 21st Century, written by Oswaldo de Rivero, a peruvian as Hernando de Soto. Although not advertised as The Mystery of Capital, it has a better book structure and an excellent analysis of the world's current situation and ways to solve it.

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5.0 out of 5 stars A book by an economist, May 26 2001
By 
econdude "econdude" (Omaha, NE United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Mystery Of Capital Why Capitalism Succeeds In The West And Fails Everywhere Else (Hardcover)
The Mystery of Capital is recommended, among others, by no less than Milton Friedman, Ronald Coase, Margaret Thatcher, and William F. Buckley Jr. That's not why you should read the book. De Soto examines a necessary and misunderstood topic: why are poor countries poor? His arguments and insights make the book a necessary read for the economist, or other educated person.

The main point of The Mystery of Capital is that the seemingly intractable and hopeless situations in Third World countries is due in large part to one common problem: the issue of property rights. Macroeconomic policies make piecemeal improvements (or may improve nothing at all). Money is not the source of the wealth in a nation. Capital is the source of the wealth of nations! Facilitating the proper legal environment is an integral part of the creation and growth of capital, something First World nations had to develop, and something de Soto argues that Third World nations can develop.

The book gets a bit dry in the latter half, but is definitely worth the read. De Soto covers legal ramifications and reforms that will help build a bridge for "dead capital" to be converted to "live capital". The Mystery of Capital will be a surprise for some, because of de Soto's synopses here and there about what life is like for those who live in Third World countries, and the enormous amount of (untapped) wealth the people of Third World Nations possess.

De Soto is a decent economist, in part because he draws from so many disciplines and sources. He also did a prodigious amount of observation and collection of data (hardly an ivory tower academic). If you have an interest in developmental economics, law and economics, entrepreneurship, History of Thought, Economic History (especially that of the U.S.), or political science, among other areas, The Mystery of Capital is especially for you. I recommend the book to any social scientist - the book is so well done and relevant that you may find yourself developing an interest in any of the above!

econ

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