Author:Hernando De Soto
Why does capitalism triumph in the West but fail almost everywhere else? Elegantly, and with rare clarity, Hernando de Soto revolutionizes our understanding of what capital is and why it has failed to benefit four-fifths of mankind -- and explains the solution.
'A revolutionary book . . . may not be in the class of Das Kapital, Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations or Keynes's General Theory. But if the criteria for joining that exclusive club is a capacity not only to change permanently the way we look at the world, but also to change the world itself, then there are good grounds for thinking that this book is surely a contender.' Donald Macintyre, The Independent
'Few people in Britain have heard of Hernando de Soto . . . but The Mystery of Capital has already led the cognoscenti to put him in the pantheon of great progressive intellectuals of our age.' Mark Leonard, New Statesman
'A crucial contribution. A new proposal for change that is valid for the whole world' - Javier Perez de Cuellar (Former Secretary United Nations)
'A hugely persuasive and important book, the more so because of the moving simplicity of its central idea'
—— Daily Telegraph'A crucial contribution. A new proposal for change that is valid for the whole world'
—— Javier Perez de Cuellar, Ex Sect.General of the UN'A very great book...powerful and completely convincing'
—— Ronald Coase, Nobel Laureate in Economics'One of the few new and genuinely promising approaches to overcoming poverty to come in a long time'
—— Francis Fukuyama, author of The End of History'A revolutionary book...if the criterion is a capacity not only to change permanently the way we look at the world, but also to change the world itself, then there are good grounds for thinking that this book is surely a contender...thrillingly subvesive'
—— Donald McIntyre , Independent'Remarkable...no less than the blueprint for the new industrila revolution'
—— Janet Bush , The Times'Lucid, deeply informed and enlivened with striking illustrations, this penetrating study could be entitled "economics in the real world"
—— Noam ChomskyThe West hopes that wealth, globalization and political integration will turn China into a gentle giant... But Jacques says that this is a delusion. Time will not make China more Western; it will make the West, and the world, more Chinese
—— The EconomistA riveting and frankly alarming account of the state of the economy... I doubt I will read a more important book this year
—— Mail on SundayI don't think I have ever needed a book more than I needed this book.
—— Dr Soph, Sunday Times bestselling author of A Manual for Being HumanYou will not be able to put this book down.
—— The IndependentI inhaled it in one sitting. It made my shoulders drop three inches by the time I'd read the first chapter. Why? It is a permission slip to escape 'the achievement trap'.
—— MetroIncredibly vivid
—— Press AssociationI've read lots of books about economics this last year. This is one of the very best... Superb
—— StandardA fluent and indirect paean to Keynesian economics... this resonates with the contemporary turmoil in global financial markets
—— Financial TimesAhamed unravels the story of the most terrible financial collapse in history from the perspective of the four men who were largely responsible: the leading central bankers in the United States, Britain, France and Germany
—— Mail on Sunday[a] very readable portrait of the bankers who allowed the Great Depression to happen
—— TelegraphPossibly the most important political book that I have read since The Spirit Level
—— Stuart Weir, co-founder of Charter 88, former editor of the New StatesmanHe has prised the lid off an important and terrifying can of worms
—— Martin Vander Weyer , Literary ReviewLively and well written book
—— Toby Young , Mail on SundayA welcome account of how the sun is never allowed to set on the British empire's old islands, whose fiscal pirates hoard the tax-free treasures of the rich
—— Geoffrey Robertson , New Statesman, Books of the YearShaxson delves into capitalism's secret nooks and tells us about how a culture of secrecy can perpetuate itself. Very interesting
—— William Leith , Evening StandardA compelling read [...] an important and very much a live topic, it'll take you a few hours to read the book but it will be a worthwhile investment of time
—— Peter Magee , BookbagWhat makes this such a good read for the layman is that the author employs all his journalistic skill (he used to work at Reuters) to illustrate his arguments and uses real examples to real examples to illustrate complex issues
—— John Arlidge , Sunday TimesThis book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the world we live in
—— Brian Maye , Irish TimesThis engrossing book about the offshore banking racket, with its eye-opening scrutiny of tax havens and the suited scoundrels who profit from them, will make you think again about the murkier side of the City...This first-rate forensic work ends with a plea that the closed City "must be abolished and submerged into a...fully democratic London"
—— Boyd Tonkin , Independent[An] informed polemic against finance capital
—— Oliver Kamm , The TimesNow more than a decade old, this is still the best introduction to the world of tax havens
—— Economist, *Summer Reads of 2022*