Hernando de Soto: Why Capitalism Works in the West, but Not Everywhere Else.

Rare is the economist who finds himself the target of terrorist bombings and assassination attempts, but Hernando de Soto is no ordinary economist. Beginning in his native Peru, de Soto has focused on a revolutionary concept that is having repercussions throughout the world’s poor countries: the lack of formal property rights as the source of poverty in poor countries. His decades of pioneering work for presidents and in the streets on behalf of property rights for the poor have led to global acclaim and recognition. In 1999 Time magazine chose de Soto as one of the five leading Latin American innovators of the century. De Soto wrote the world renown book, The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else. www.cato.org