16. Braudel’s Bell Jar

Capitalism: Success, Crisis and Reform (PLSC 270) Professor Rae explores Hernando de Soto’s theories of dead and live capital and the power of property rights. According to de Soto, informal property must carefully be integrated into the formal property system. Professor Rae presents the example of Baltimore’s row house vacancy problem, and the difficulties in designing and implementing innovative property policies when existing interests of local stakeholders are firmly entrenched. The Coase theorem and