Hernando de Soto

“Only 25 of the world’s 200 countries produce capital in sufficient quantities to benefit from the division of labour in expanded global markets.”

“It would take someone almost a year, working full-time, to complete the paperwork to set up a one-man sewing business in Peru (and the legal costs would be 31 times the monthly minimum wage).”

“And it would take five years of bureaucratic wrangling, including 77 administrative steps in 31 government offices, to get legal authorisation to build a house in Egypt.”

“De Soto estimates that, in countries such as Peru and Egypt, the assets of eight out of ten people are excluded from the formal economy.”

“in Egypt, it is worth 55 times as much as all investment ever recorded (including the Suez Canal and the Aswan Dam)”

“in Haiti, it is worth 150 times all investment.”

“De Soto estimates that the value of real estate held, but not legally owned, by the poor of the developing world and former communist nations is £6.3 trillion”

“20 times as much as all foreign direct investment since 1989”

“46 times as much as all World Bank and IMF loans to developing countries”

“almost as much as the total value of all the companies listed on the main stock exchanges of the world’s 20 most developed countries, including those in New York, Tokyo, London, Frankfurt, Toronto, P…”

“because of the lack of democratic feedback, governments have not understood that there are considerable assets which 90 per cent of the public own, but which need to be formalised with new legal fram…”