ON HERNANDO DE SOTO ...

. The key Hernando de Soto reference is his book The Mystery of Capital. Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else See (New York: Basic Books, 2000) [chapter 1]. See also his article "The Mystery of Capital", IMF Finance & Develpoment, Vol. 38, No. 1, March 2001.

. De Soto heads the Lima-based ILD think tank.

. See also the volume edited by Robert Home & Hilary Lin. Demystifying the Mystery of Capital: Land Tenure and Poverty in Africa and the Caribbean (London: The GlassHouse Press, 2004).

. While Mr. de Soto admires the many achievements of micro-credit institutions around the world, he is skeptical about their ability to provide entrepreneurs with the scale they need in order to escape poverty.

. By the way, the New York Times has just published a devastating article on the interest rates charged by micro-credit institutions (Neil MacFarquhar: "Banks Making Big Profits From Tiny Loans"). I'll mention it briefly on Thursday.
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