Capital vs Terror

The Economist profiles an economist: Hernando de Soto.

"He argues that capitalism will thrive, and overcome threats such as terrorism, only if legal systems change so that most of the people feel that the law is on their side. Creating this sense of inclusion requires many things, including marketing the idea aggressively to the poor. But one of the best symbols of change is a mass programme of giving full legal protection to the de facto property rights that are observed informally by the (typically poor) people now living beyond the formal law."

And his dogs are named Marx and Engels because "they are German, hairy and have no respect for property."

Reason ran an excerpt of de Soto's latest book, The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else.

(Link via Arts & Letters Daily)