The Other Path: The Economic Answer to Terrorism - Softcover

De Soto, Hernando

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0465016103 ISBN 13: 9780465016105

Publisher: Basic Books, 2002

Synopsis

In this, his classic book on the informal economy of Peru and the reasons why poverty can be a breeding ground for terrorists, Hernando De Soto describes the forces that keep people dependent on underground economies: the bureaucratic barriers to legal property ownership and the lack of legal structures that recognize and encourage ownership of assets. It is exactly these forces, de Soto argues, that prevent houses, land, and machines from functioning as capital does in the West- as assets that can be leveraged to create more capital. Under the Fujimori government, de Soto's Institute for Liberty and Democracy wrote dozens of laws to promote property rights and bring people out of the informal economy and into the legitimate one. The result was not only an economic boon for Peru but also the defeat of the Shining Path, the terrorist movement and black-market force that was then threatening to take over the Peruvian government. In a new preface, de Soto relates his work to the present moment, making the connection between the Shining Path in the 1980's and the Taliban today.

About this title

About the Author:

Hernando de Soto is President of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy (ILD), headquartered in Lima, Peru. He was named one of the five leading Latin American innovators of the century by Time magazine in its May 1999 issue on "Leaders for the New Millennium." De Soto played an integral role in the modernization of Peru's economic and political system as President Alberto Fujimori's Personal Representative and Principal Adviser. His previous book, The Other Path, was a best seller throughout Latin America and the U.S. He and ILD are currently working on the practical implementation of the measures for bringing the poor into the economic mainstream introduced in The Mystery of Capital. He lives in Lima, Peru.

Synopsis:

Examines the Peruvian underground economy and the efforts of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy, discussing the barriers to legal property ownership, the reasons why people become dependent on underground economies, and the terrorist threats made possible by poverty. Reprint. 20,000 first printing.

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0465016103
• ISBN 13: 9780465016105
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352