Overview

A compelling explanation of how the law shapes the distribution of wealth Capital is the defining feature of modern economies, yet most people have no idea where it actually comes from. What is it, exactly, that transforms mere wealth into an asset that automatically creates more wealth? The Code of Capital explains how capital is created behind

Full Product Details

9780691178974

Table of Contents

Reviews

The Code of Capital delivers the keys to understanding how law and lawyers push the property system toward concentrated and entrenched wealth. Many of its insights are timeless, but Pistor shows how globalization has spun these mechanisms into overdrive. A must-read for comprehending financial capitalism and its threat to democratic citizenship. Roy Kreitner, author of Calculating Promises: The Emergence of Modern American Contract Doctrine Katharina Pistor has crafted a powerful and relentlessly intelligent argument about the importance of law for modern capital. Written with lucid erudition, her book explores legal patterns and relationships underlying centuries of economic development. Anyone interested in finance, wealth, or inequality will want to engage this ambitious and innovative work. Bruce G. Carruthers, Northwestern University Law, Pistor shows in this breakthrough book, is the essential means by which increasingly intangible and mobile assets are protected against control, especially democratic control. Understanding the intricacy of how law works to produce and safeguard soaring wealth for the rich is essential for confronting the inequality crisis of our time. Brilliant, clear, and pithy, The Code of Capital is an essential contribution for reformers and scholars alike. Samuel Moyn, author of Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World The Code of Capital is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding how global capital markets function. In clear and understandable terms, Pistor traces the legal coding of capital, the explosive expansion of finance, and the steep fall of the global financial crisis. Cathy M. Kaplan, senior counsel, Sidley Austin LLP This is a fascinating book that demonstrates how the rights of capital have been entrenched in the international legal system. The Code of Capital opens the way for a thoughtful discussion about the treaties on capital flows and privileges that need to be rewritten. A must-read. Thomas Piketty, author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century

A powerful symphony. --Ugo Pagano, University of Siena

Law, Pistor shows in this breakthrough book, is the essential means by which increasingly intangible and mobile assets are protected against control, especially democratic control. Understanding the intricacy of how law works to produce and safeguard soaring wealth for the rich is essential for confronting the inequality crisis of our time. Brilliant, clear, and pithy, The Code of Capital is an essential contribution for reformers and scholars alike. --Samuel Moyn, author of Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World A powerful symphony. --Ugo Pagano, University of Siena

Author Information

Katharina Pistor is the Edwin B. Parker Professor of Comparative Law and director of the Center on Global Legal Transformation at Columbia Law School. She is the coauthor of Law and Capitalism: What Corporate Crises Reveal about Legal Systems and Economic Development around the World and the coeditor of Governing Access to Essential Resources. She lives in New York City.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available