The code of capital : how the law creates wealth and inequality / Katharina Pistor.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pistor, Katharina, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Capital.

Profit.

Income distribution.

Law--Economic aspects.

Law.

Lawyers.

Law and globalization.

Physical Description:

xiii, 297 pages ; 25 cm

Other Title:

How the law creates wealth and inequality

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2019]

Summary:

"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 closed doors in the offices of private attorneys, and why this little-known fact is one of the biggest reasons for the widening wealth gap between the holders of capital and everybody else. In this ... book, Katharina Pistor argues that the law selectively "codes" certain assets, endowing them with the capacity to protect and produce private wealth. With the right legal coding, any object, claim, or idea can be turned into capital - and lawyers are the keepers of the code. Pistor describes how they pick and choose among different legal systems and legal devices for the ones that best serve their clients' needs, and how techniques that were first perfected centuries ago to code landholdings as capital are being used today to code stocks, bonds, ideas, and even expectations--assets that exist only in law"--Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Empire of law

Coding land

Cloning legal persons

Minting debt

Enclosing nature's code

A code for the globe

The masters of the code

A new code?

Capital rules by law.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 235-277) and index.

ISBN:

9780691178974

0691178976

OCLC:

1059253097