Hernando De Soto Revolutionized The World's Thinking On Poverty

``Nicholas Eberstadt, an American Enterprise Institute expert on economic development, lauds de Soto for demonstrating how property rights -- often disparaged by left-leaning intellectuals as an instrument of the privileged -- help the poor: "He has helped explain to convincible readers how radically egalitarian the rule of law and property rights are. Plutocrats, strongmen -- they have their muscle. They can take what they choose in lawless situations. But the poor and weak are protected by the rule of law and property rights."''