In five pages this paper examines Peru and the influence of colonialism on land ownership as perceived by DeSoto.
Name of Research Paper File: D0_BBdeSoto.doc
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
Written by B. Bryan Babcock for the Paperstore, Inc., July 2001 Note to the student: Decide if you want to
list a bibliography sheet for this sample paper. The text is only listed within the paper. Introduction Hernando De Soto, founder of Perus Institute for Liberty and Democracy, and
author of 1989 text The Other Path, has been forced to live a hazardous life due to his economical beliefs. We would like to think that such things no
longer happen in the western world, but when one speaks of the "reality of two economic segments" of Peru, things become a lot more murky. This discussion will look
at the controversy that the text presents. Reality De Soto found that there were really two economies in Peru, which he labels formal and informal. As we might guess,
it is the "informal" which is the reality and has put the author on the Shining Path "hit list." The author states, "We examined the situation in the various government
ministries and discovered a pattern of "invasion" of lands in Peru (owned by absentee landlords or by theGovernment). Who were these invaders? We found that they were farmers--informal agricultural entrepreneurs.
From among the leaders of the invaders we selected eighty to interview. They were the most prosperous and therefore those with the most authority among these "informals." Talking
to these informal leaders, we asked them the question, "Do you consider yourself a member of the private sector?" "No," most of them answered. "Do you then consider yourself a
member of the public sector?" we asked. "No," they said, "the public sector is the government, the state."Then we asked, "Who do you think belongs to the private sector?" "Los