HERNANDO DE SOTO IN ACTION!: Here is a story illustrating the points De Soto has been making throughout his (so far truly excellent) book, The Mystery of Capital: “Kenyans buy into slum plan.” (De Soto has been emphasizing the need for property rights; this story makes that point and also notes physical improvements in the buildings and a sense of personal and communal ownership.) Excerpts:

Last year, a group of Nairobi slum dwellers banded together and asked the city council to give them the land that they had been squatting on illegally. In return, they promised to build proper houses, schools, and community centers without any government money.

“We went to the council and said: ‘We know this land belongs to you, but we have lived here for 30 years and if you help us, we will make it a clean environment with good security,” says Peter Chege, secretary of the housing association. “In the end, they agreed to draw up title deeds to the land in our name.”

The bold move by the fledgling association was part of a revolutionary plan imported from India. It’s the latest example of what experts say is becoming a model for slum improvement around the world. …

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Via Hit and Run.