The Mystery of Capital

Author: Hernando De Soto
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465004016
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 290

Book Description
A 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.

The Mystery of Capital and the Construction of Social Reality

Author: Barry Smith
Publisher: Open Court
ISBN: 0812699335
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 385

Book Description
John Searle’s The Construction of Social Reality and Hernando de Soto’s The Mystery of Capital shifted the focus of current thought on capital and economic development to the cultural and conceptual ideas that underpin market economies and that are taken for granted in developed nations. This collection of essays assembles 21 philosophers, economists, and political scientists to help readers understand these exciting new theories.

Hernando de Soto and Property in a Market Economy

Author: D. Benjamin Barros
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317122178
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 245

Book Description
Hernando de Soto is one of the world's leading public intellectuals. His books The Mystery of Capital and The Other Path have had a tremendous impact on debates about international development, but his work also has been controversial. One of de Soto's core ideas is that the institution of private property is necessary for the proper functioning of a market economy, yet even though many property scholars closely follow de Soto's work, his ideas have been neglected in property law scholarship and mature market economies like the United States. This new collection seeks to remedy this neglect, bringing together a diverse group of scholars to apply de Soto's work to a wide range of contemporary issues in property law and theory. The important contribution it makes to debates and controversies in property law, as well as in related economic fields, will appeal to scholars of both law and economics.

The Mystery of Economic Growth

Author: Elhanan Helpman
Publisher: Academic Foundation
ISBN: 9788171884841
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 250

Book Description
Organizes the tale of economic growth around many themes: the importance of the accumulation of physical and human capital.

The Mystery of Capital

Author: Hernando De Soto
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780465016150
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 292

Book Description
In the West we've forgotten that creating this system is also what allowed people everywhere to leverage property into wealth.

The Mystery of the Kibbutz

Author: Ran Abramitzky
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691202249
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 354

Book Description
How the kibbutz movement thrived despite its inherent economic contradictions and why it eventually declined The kibbutz is a social experiment in collective living that challenges traditional economic theory. By sharing all income and resources equally among its members, the kibbutz system created strong incentives to free ride or—as in the case of the most educated and skilled—to depart for the city. Yet for much of the twentieth century kibbutzim thrived, and kibbutz life was perceived as idyllic both by members and the outside world. In The Mystery of the Kibbutz, Ran Abramitzky blends economic perspectives with personal insights to examine how kibbutzim successfully maintained equal sharing for so long despite their inherent incentive problems. Weaving the story of his own family’s experiences as kibbutz members with extensive economic and historical data, Abramitzky sheds light on the idealism and historic circumstances that helped kibbutzim overcome their economic contradictions. He illuminates how the design of kibbutzim met the challenges of thriving as enclaves in a capitalist world and evaluates kibbutzim’s success at sustaining economic equality. By drawing on extensive historical data and the stories of his pioneering grandmother who founded a kibbutz, his uncle who remained in a kibbutz his entire adult life, and his mother who was raised in and left the kibbutz, Abramitzky brings to life the rise and fall of the kibbutz movement. The lessons that The Mystery of the Kibbutz draws from this unique social experiment extend far beyond the kibbutz gates, serving as a guide to societies that strive to foster economic and social equality.

Economics, Accounting and the True Nature of Capitalism

Author: Jacques Richard
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 100048405X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 182

Book Description
Almost all economists, whether classical, neoclassical or Marxist, have failed in their analyses of capitalism to consider the underpinning systems of accounting. This book draws attention to this lacuna, focusing specifically on the concept of capital: a major concept that dominates all teaching and practice in both economics and management. It is argued that while for the practitioners of capitalism – in accounting and business – the capital in their accounts is a debt to be repaid (or a thing to be kept), for economists, it has been considered a means (or even a resource or an asset) intended to be worn out. This category error has led to economists failing to comprehend the true nature of capitalism. On this basis, this book proposes a new definition of capitalism that brings about considerable changes in the attitude to be had towards this economic system, in particular, the means to bring about its replacement. This book will be of significant interest to readers of political economy, history of economic thought, critical accounting and heterodox economics.

Fictitious Capital

Author: Cédric Durand
Publisher: Verso Books
ISBN: 1784787213
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 177

Book Description
How finance is a mechanism of social and political domination The 2007–08 credit crisis and the long recession that followed brutally exposed the economic and social costs of financialization. Understanding what lay behind these events, the rise of “fictitious capital” and its opaque logic, is crucial to grasping the social and political conditions under which we live. Yet, for most people, the operations of the financial system remain shrouded in mystery. In this lucid and compelling book, economist Cédric Durand offers a concise and critical introduction to the world of finance, unveiling the truth behind the credit crunch. Fictitious Capital moves beyond moralizing tales about greedy bankers, short-sighted experts and compromised regulators to look at the big picture. Using comparative data covering the last four decades, Durand examines the relationship between trends such as the rise in private and public debt and the proliferation of financial products; norms such as our habitual assumptions about the production of value and financial stability; and the relationship of all this to political power. Fictitious Capital offers a stark warning about the direction that the international economy is taking. Durand argues that the accelerated expansion of financial operations is a sign of the declining power of the economies of the Global North. The City, Wall Street and other centres of the power of money, he suggests, may already be caked with the frosts of winter.

Capital as Power

Author: Jonathan Nitzan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134022298
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 853

Book Description
Conventional theories of capitalism are mired in a deep crisis: after centuries of debate, they are still unable to tell us what capital is. Liberals and Marxists both think of capital as an ‘economic’ entity that they count in universal units of ‘utils’ or ‘abstract labour’, respectively. But these units are totally fictitious. Nobody has ever been able to observe or measure them, and for a good reason: they don’t exist. Since liberalism and Marxism depend on these non-existing units, their theories hang in suspension. They cannot explain the process that matters most – the accumulation of capital. This book offers a radical alternative. According to the authors, capital is not a narrow economic entity, but a symbolic quantification of power. It has little to do with utility or abstract labour, and it extends far beyond machines and production lines. Capital, the authors claim, represents the organized power of dominant capital groups to reshape – or creorder – their society. Written in simple language, accessible to lay readers and experts alike, the book develops a novel political economy. It takes the reader through the history, assumptions and limitations of mainstream economics and its associated theories of politics. It examines the evolution of Marxist thinking on accumulation and the state. And it articulates an innovative theory of ‘capital as power’ and a new history of the ‘capitalist mode of power’.

The Mystery of the Invisible Hand

Author: Marshall Jevons
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691259356
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Book Description
Economics professor and amateur detective Henry Spearman tackles a mystery where the price of art is murder In The Mystery of the Invisible Hand, Henry Spearman, an economics professor with a knack for solving crimes, is pulled into a case that mixes campus intrigue, stolen art, and murder. Arriving at San Antonio’s Monte Vista University to teach a course on art and economics, he is confronted with a puzzling art theft and the suspicious suicide of the school’s artist-in-residence. From Texas to New York, Spearman traces the connections between economics and the art world, finding his clues in monopolies, auction theory, and Adam Smith. How is a company’s capital like an art museum’s collection? What does the market say about art’s authenticity versus its availability? What is the mysterious “death effect”—and does it lie at the heart of the case? Spearman must rely on his savviest economic thinking to answer these questions—and pin down a killer.