In 1986, the Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto Polar published his first book, The Other Path. The title of the book was a direct attack on the Shining Path, a ruthless communist insurgency in Peru. Because of their brutality and their failure to improve the lives of the people who lived under their control, the Shining Path never had widespread support among Peruvians. But de Soto understood that it’s not enough to recognize deviant paths. Sometimes a new path is needed.
And so, in The Other Path and in his work since, de Soto focuses his energy on carving out a new path. He analyzes differences in economic development across time and nations and showed how peaceful legal reforms and greater participation in well-regulated free markets was the real path to greater prosperity for the poor. De Soto’s economic theories have greatly influenced me (as you can see in this article I wrote with Walker Wright: No Poor Among Them), but his example of debating constructively made an even deeper impression. Although this story comes from a very extreme period of history, the lesson is universal: In times of confusion and conflict, the answer is not criticism alone. It is creation.
Read Full Article »