President, Institute for Liberty & Democracy, Lima, Peru. “The world’s greatest living economist.” - Bill Clinton

Mr. de Soto is currently President of the ILD —headquartered in Lima, Peru— considered by The Economist as one of the two most important think tanks in the world. Time magazine chose him as one of the five leading Latin American innovators of the century in its special May 1999 issue “Leaders for the New Millennium”, and included him among the 100 most influential people in the world in 2004. Mr. de Soto was also listed as one of 15 innovators “who will reinvent your future” according to Forbes magazine’ 85th anniversary edition. In January 2000, Entwicklung und Zusammenarbeit, the German development magazine, described Mr. de Soto as one of the most important development theoreticians of the last millennium. In October 2005, over 20,000 readers of Prospect magazine of the UK and Foreign Policy of the US ranked him among the top 13 “public intellectuals” in the world from the magazines’ joint list of 100.

Mr. de Soto has served as an economist for the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, as President of the Executive Committee of the Copper Exporting Countries Organization (CIPEC), as CEO of Universal Engineering Corporation (Continental Europe’s largest consulting engineering firm), as a principal of the Swiss Bank Corporation Consultant Group, and as a governor of Peru’s Central Reserve Bank.

Currently, Mr. de Soto, together with his colleagues at the ILD, is focused on designing and implementing capital formation programs to empower the poor in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and former Soviet Nations. Some 30 heads of state have invited him to carry out these ILD programs in their countries. He also co-chairs with former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright the High Level Commission on Legal Empowerment for the Poor.

Mr. de Soto has published two books about economic and political development: The Other Path, in the mid- 1980s, and at the end of 2000, The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else. Both books have been international bestsellers – translated into some 20 languages.

Among the prizes he has received are The Freedom Prize (Switzerland), and The Fisher Prize (United Kingdom). In 2002, he received The Goldwater Award (USA), The Adam Smith Award from the Association of Private Enterprise Education (USA), and The CARE Canada Award for Outstanding Development Thinking (Canada). In 2003, he received the Downey Fellowship at Yale University and the Democracy Hall of Fame International Award from the National Graduate University (USA). In 2004, he was given The Templeton Freedom Prize (USA) and The Milton Friedman Prize (USA), as well as the Royal Decoration of the Most Admirable Order of the Direkgunabhorn, 5th Class, (Thailand). In 2005, he received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Buckingham (United Kingdom), The Americas Award (USA); he was also named the Most Outstanding of 2004 for Economic Development at Home and Abroad by the Peruvian National Assembly of Rectors, and received the Prize of Deutsche Stiftung Eigentum for exceptional contributions to the theory of property rights, the 2004 IPAE Award by the Peruvian Institute of Business Administration, the Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award 2005 (USA) in tribute to his outstanding accomplishments, the BearingPoint, Forbes magazine’s seventh Compass Award for Strategic Direction, and was named as a “Fellow of the Class of 1930” by Dartmouth College. In 2006, he received the 2006 Bradley Prize for outstanding achievement by the Bradley Foundation, and the Economist’s Social and Economic Innovation Award for the promotion of property rights and economic development.

Comments on Mr. de Soto’s Work

“De Soto’s prescription offers a clear and promising alternative to economic stagnation...” George Bush, former President of the United States

“Hernando de Soto is absolutely right, that we need to rethink how we capture economic growth and development” UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan

“It was really with very good reason that President Clinton stated that the most promising anti-poverty initiative in the world is the one being advanced by the ILD.” Madeleine Albright, former US Secretary of State

“In his smart new book, "The Mystery of Capital", de Soto answers the question why capitalism succeeds in the West and fails in so many other places.” Thomas Friedman, The New York Times

“The Mystery of Capital has the potential to create a new, enormously beneficial revolution, for it addresses the single greatest source of failure in the Third World and ex-communist countries –the lack of a rule that upholds private property and provides a framework for enterprise. It should be compulsory reading for all in charge of the ‘wealth of nations’.” Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

“De Soto has demonstrated in practice that titling hitherto untitled assets is an extremely effective way to promote economic development of society as a whole. He offers politicians a project which can contribute to the welfare of their country and at the same time enhance their own political standing, a wonderful combination.” Milton Friedman, Nobel Laureate in Economics

“De Soto has single-handedly been fomenting a revolution in the Third World… The Mystery of Capital constitutes one of the few new genuinely promising approaches to overcoming poverty to come along in a very long time.” Francis Fukuyama, author of The Great Disruption

Book Hernando de Soto

To book Hernando de Soto for your event, or to discuss you requirements further with one of our consultants, contact us via the web, or call +44 (0) 1628 636 600