updated 9d ago
The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality
They can code capital as they choose in domestic or foreign law by opting into another country’s contract law, or by incorporating their business in a jurisdiction that offers them the greatest benefits in the form of tax rates, regulatory relief, or shareholder benefits. Opting out of one and into a different legal regime leaves only a paper or di
... See morefrom The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality by Katharina Pistor
Pam G C Pinheiro added 3mo ago
The law is a powerful tool for social ordering and, if used wisely, has the potential to serve a broad range of social objectives; yet, for reasons and with implications that I attempt to explain, the law has been placed firmly in the service of capital.
from The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality by Katharina Pistor
Pam G C Pinheiro added 3mo ago
at the frontiers where new capital rights are minted day by day in the offices of law firms, states take a back seat. But states provide the legal tools that lawyers use; and they offer their law enforcement apparatus to enforce the capital that lawyers have crafted.
from The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality by Katharina Pistor
Pam G C Pinheiro added 3mo ago
The craftsmanship of their lawyers, the code’s masters, explains the adaptability of the code to the ever-changing roster of assets; and the wealth-creating benefits of capital help explain why states have been only too willing to vindicate and enforce innovative legal coding strategies.
from The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality by Katharina Pistor
Pam G C Pinheiro added 3mo ago
Everywhere we probed a little deeper, we found the core institutions of private law: contract, property, collateral, trust, corporate, and bankruptcy law.
from The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality by Katharina Pistor
Pam G C Pinheiro added 3mo ago
Recognizing that capital is made, and not simply the product of superior skills, shifts attention to the processes by which different assets are slated for legal coding and to the states that endorse relevant legal modules and offer their coercive powers to enforce them.
from The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality by Katharina Pistor
Pam G C Pinheiro added 3mo ago
Because of its ability to shield its assets from all but its direct creditors, even its own shareholders, the corporation has become one of the most enduring institutions of capitalism.
from The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality by Katharina Pistor
Pam G C Pinheiro added 3mo ago
Many legal scholars have already drawn attention to the fact that the operation of the market hinges on legal institutions that facilitate price discovery.
from The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality by Katharina Pistor
Pam G C Pinheiro added 3mo ago
For centuries, private attorneys have molded and adapted these legal modules to a changing roster of assets and have thereby enhanced their clients’ wealth. And states have supported the coding of capital by offering their coercive law powers to enforce the legal rights that have been bestowed on capital.
from The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality by Katharina Pistor
Pam G C Pinheiro added 3mo ago