The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality

What is it that transforms a simple object, an idea, or a promise to pay into an asset that creates wealth? Katharina Pistor explains how, behind closed doors in the offices of private attorneys, capital is created—and why this little-known activity is one of the biggest reasons for the widening wealth gap between the holders of capital and everybody else. A powerful new way of thinking about one of the most pernicious problems of our time, The Code of Capital explores the various ways that debt, complex financial products, and other assets are selectively coded to protect and reproduce private wealth. This provocative book paints a troubling portrait of the pervasive global nature of the code, the people who shape it, and the governments that enforce it.

Correcting the wealth gap

Awards and Recognition

• One of the Financial Times' Best Books of 2019: Economics
• One of the Financial Times' Readers' Best Books of 2019
• One of Business Insider's Richard Feloni's best books of 2019 on how we can rethink today's capitalism and improve the economy
• A Project Syndicate Best Read in 2019