The New York Times Magazine had a lengthy article about Hernando de Soto on
July 1:
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/01/magazine/01DESOTO.html?pagewanted=all
What is especially interesting is that he is apparently catching on in
various places: Aristide in Haiti and Mubarak in Egypt, among others, are
working with him. He also made the following comments:
"At our hotel the last night, I asked de Soto if he expected to see any
country he has worked in turn around in his lifetime. If one nation
succeeded with his plan on each continent, he told me earlier, it would set
the continent on fire. This night there was less bravado. "I'll probably see
it by the end of my life," he said, shrugging. "You don't know." One thing
he felt sure of, however. If something like his agenda didn't catch on, a
backlash against globalization was unavoidable.
"The social war is going to be terrible unless you do something," he said.
"You can't wait 30 years, and it's not just Oliver Twist. It's Oliver Twist
with James Bond's weapons." I asked about critics who say he's peddling an
idee fixe that ignores the critical role of culture in development. De Soto
could barely contain himself. "I'm not writing for Harvard students," he
said. "I'm writing basically for Aristide and Hosni Mubarak and Gloria
Arroyo and Fox. Political leaders know this isn't a one-shot idea. They know
it amounts to a revolution.""
David Shemano
