Who is Hernando De Soto? He is an economist from Peru who heads up The Institute for Liberty and Democracy. He is an unusual economist in that he actually talks to people and he has talked to a lot of people in the 3rd world. His research has found that the 3rd world has wealth but is unable to use it for economic purposes because they lack property rights and the basic forms of identification that are taken for granted in the West. He is author of the widely acclaimed Mystery of Capital--a must read if one wants a good understanding of how and why most of the world struggles economically. 
You can begin to understand Hernando De Soto's views by watching this YouTube:
This is a very interesting dilemma: to have wealth but to be incapable of using it. That sounds incredibly frustrating and does add texture to what's going on in Egypt.
ReplyDelete@Shawn Exactly. We take our legal system and property rights for granted but they are non existent in many countries. Without those it is difficult to create more wealth. For example if you have title to a car you can use it as collateral to start a business etc. In 3rd world countries there is no titling to show ownership, so much wealth is hidden and, sad to say, in a form that necessarily can easily be transported in the case of hostilities.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment.