Hernando de Soto and the 'mystification of capital': a critical exploration of the difference that legal title makes for the low-income housing market in South Africa
SOURCE: South African Geographical Journal
OUTPUT TYPE: Journal Article
PUBLICATION YEAR: 2008
TITLE AUTHOR(S): U.Pillay
KEYWORDS: HOUSING DELIVERY, LOW INCOME POPULATION, PROPERTY RIGHTS
Print: HSRC Library: shelf number 5647
HANDLE: 20.500.11910/5049
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/5049
OUTPUT TYPE: Journal Article
PUBLICATION YEAR: 2008
TITLE AUTHOR(S): U.Pillay
KEYWORDS: HOUSING DELIVERY, LOW INCOME POPULATION, PROPERTY RIGHTS
Print: HSRC Library: shelf number 5647
HANDLE: 20.500.11910/5049
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/5049
If you would like to obtain a copy of this Research Output, please contact Hanlie Baudin at researchoutputs@hsrc.ac.za.
Abstract
Hernando de Soto's analysis of the high cost of establishing, protecting and trading in property rights in his home country of Peru and other developing nations demonstrates the centrality of institutions to economic analysis and outcomes. The effective denial of property rights to hundreds of thousands of poor people means that their economic potential and that of their countries is largely untapped. If this dead capital were legalised, it would elevate the poor out of poverty. Against the background of some of de Soto's key ideas and tenets, including the concept of dead capital, this paper critically explores the centrality of his thesis to the creation of a single integrated housing market in South Africa, as part of a larger national goal to alleviate poverty.-
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