Reviews for The other path

The average rating for The other path based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-01-04 00:00:00 Todd Mills Four and a half stars. I did read the 1991 'Invisible Revolution' edition and not the more recent 'Answer to Terrorism' edition, and I do not know if there is any difference. I would highly recommend this book for anyone of a smaller government mindset (Libertarians, Propertarians, etc.); this should be required reading of anyone looking into or leaning towards Anarcho-Capitalism. I have read Rothbard's For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto and recently wrote a very favorable review of Huemer's The Problem of Political Authority: An Examination of the Right to Coerce and the Duty to Obey. These are interesting introductions into the theory of Anarcho-Capitalism; Rothbard gets into theoretical nuts-and-bolts while Huemer looks more at the general ideals. "The Other Path" shows us how Anarchy works (and doesn't) in the real world. De Soto and the Instituto Libertad y Democracia (ILD) have deeply explored the informal society and economy that exists in 20th Century Peru, especially in and around Lima. There is an amazing story here of the struggle to survive and succeed in a world where most are outcast and must live outside the law. The book focusses in three major areas to demonstrate consistencies and differences; housing, trade, and transportation. It also offers insightful comparisons between the formal and informal activities in Peru and there costs in both physical and human capital. Throughout the book De Soto refers to the 'extra-legal' system of arbitration and dispute resolution used by informals, but he never goes into any detail whatsoever on this system. I feel this should have been the other area covered because its effectiveness or lack there of is so crucial to the functioning of a healthy society. Chapter Seven is worth the price of book no matter how much you paid for it. It looks at the history of European Mercantilism of the 17th and 18th centuries and compares and contrasts it to current government in Peru (although it applies elsewhere as well). De Soto doesn't use the modern term 'Crony Capitalism' but does mention 'State Corporatism' and you can see the direct ties to modern Progressivism on both the left and the right. De Soto quotes; "there is a big difference between and fox and a wolf but, for the rabbit, it is the similarity the counts". Brilliant!

Review # 2 was written on 2007-10-24 00:00:00 R L Skene I had little choice about reading this book because I had to review it for a class. But it was surprisingly interesting - mostly because it was a politically motivated book than an academically inspired one. Much of the book is devoted to a description of how the informal sector formed in Lima, Peru. Basically, the government tried to block peasants from coming to the city by making ridiculously strict laws that didn't allow them to legally live or function there. So they made their own markets, neighborhoods, small businesses and transportation system. The description of all that was interesting, but the best part was when a team of researchers got together and tried to do everything the legal way. In one example, it took them 289 days to obtain the 11 neccesary permits to set up a small business. Besides just being a gigantic waste of time, it cost 32 times the monthly living wage. This is a great demonstration of how ridiculous the laws were at that time. The book was a bestseller in both Latin America and the U.S. Unfortunately, it is used as a tool by the neo-liberals to promote free markets and capitalism. Look! These uneducated peasants had scarce resources that they needed to use efficiently, and they formed their own market economy.