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A review by rainflowers
The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality by Katharina Pistor
4.0
4.5 stars
Essential reading for all law students and those in the profession. Those not familiar with the law may find this more difficult to follow but it would be great if it could be read by everyone. Pistor expertly navigates through the swamp of property rights and investment law to show how the law itself creates and privileges these assets.
My one critique is that she repeatedly disavows a Marxist analysis of the law and I believe this is at odds with her thesis. I found it underwhelming that after meticulously picking apart how expert lawyers at large corporate firms code capital for asset holders, she then tries to neutralize her language by refuting class based critique. This choice does not make sense with the rest of her explanations and reasoning for how and why capital is coded by law, and thus I did come away from the book feeling that it wasn't quite complete.
Essential reading for all law students and those in the profession. Those not familiar with the law may find this more difficult to follow but it would be great if it could be read by everyone. Pistor expertly navigates through the swamp of property rights and investment law to show how the law itself creates and privileges these assets.
My one critique is that she repeatedly disavows a Marxist analysis of the law and I believe this is at odds with her thesis. I found it underwhelming that after meticulously picking apart how expert lawyers at large corporate firms code capital for asset holders, she then tries to neutralize her language by refuting class based critique. This choice does not make sense with the rest of her explanations and reasoning for how and why capital is coded by law, and thus I did come away from the book feeling that it wasn't quite complete.