The Other Path: The Invisible Revolution in the Third World
Author: Hernando De Soto, June, Abbott
List Price: $15.00
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ISBN: 0060916400
Publisher: HarperCollins (paper) (January, 1990)
Sales Rank: 254,892
Average Customer Rating: 4.3 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
De Soto as a modern day Adam Smith?
In many ways, I am disappointed that I read this book after reading de Soto's other book, "The Mystery Of Capital". Both this and his other book largely contain the same ideas, but "The Other Path" focuses more intently on de Soto's experiences in Peru rather attempting to answer a very broad question. Because "The Other Path" focuses on squarely on Peru, it can more completely chronicle how his ideas have been used to better the lot of poor Peruvians, and have contributed to the defeat of Sendero Luminoso. I would have preferred it if the book did not purport to be a general answer to terrorism. While his ideas are very applicable with respect to Maoist revolutionaries attempting to (in theory) uplift the poor, they seem less relevant to "non-economic" terrorists, such as certain rich scions of Saudi families that fly airplanes into buildings, for example. But that is a minor point.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Excellent Analysis of History, Politics, and Reality
Unlike most political theorists, de Soto has actually gone out and dug up evidence for his work. He starts with an excellent history of Peru, and shuns the concept that those who operate outside the law are necessarily criminals. Indeed, when his Institute for Liberty and Democracty attempted to _follow_ the law to set up a small business, they found out that it was literally impossible! This book makes many excellent arguments for the removal of many layers of government, and shows the predictable results when government attempts to fix itself with more government.
Rating: 4 out of 5
A Devastating Critique of Centrally Planned Economies
The original version of this book was written in the mid-80's to offer the people and government of Peru specific suggestions to combat Sendero Luminoso by making it possible for ordinary people to have a productive and meaningful participation in the nation's economy. This new printing includes a preface written in 2002 that provides the context and history for non-Peruvian readers and gives some analysis of the successes of the suggested reforms under the Fujimori government.The first part of the book is a detailed analysis of three sectors of the Peruvian economy: housing, transport, and trade (small manufacturing and retail primarily). In each of these, De Soto demonstrates how the barriers raised by regulation and legal process from both right and left wing governments in Peru have forced the majority of persons participating to do so in informal/illegal ways. The result is that formal activity bears the brunt of taxation and informals have little protection in terms of property rights, contractual instruments, and so on. The net result is that everyone is impoverished. This section of the book can be tough reading because of the amount of detail, but its necessary in order to understand the importance of the second half.
The second half suggests that the Peruvian situation is really the reemergence of mercantilism, not a market economy. De Soto then provides some suggestions to peacefully transitiont to a market economy, and convincing warnings that failure to do so will almost certainly result in a violent transition.
The points that De Soto makes are increasingly significant to non-Peruvians as societies like America have increasingly centralised economies. Ironically, the cover includes blurbs from both Presidents Bush and Clinton. One suspects that netiher of them actually read the book.
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