El código capital

Capital is the defining characteristic of modern economies, but most people have no idea where it actually comes from. What, exactly, is it that transforms mere wealth into an asset that automatically creates more wealth? Pistor explains how capital is created behind closed doors in private law firms and why this little-known fact is one of the main reasons for the widening wealth gap between the holders of capital and everyone else. With the proper legal coding, any object, claim, or idea can become capital, and lawyers are the keepers of the code. Pistor reveals how they choose among the different legal systems and devices the ones that best serve the needs of their clients, and how the techniques that were perfected centuries ago to codify land properties as capital are used today to codify stocks, bonds, ideas and even expectations, assets that only exist in law. A powerful new way of thinking about one of the most pernicious problems of our time, The Capital Code explores the different ways that debt, complex financial products, and other assets are coded to give their holders financial advantage.