Hernando de Soto receiving The Goldwater Award , 16 March 2002

"Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto is arguably the most important intellectual in the developing world. Whereas generations of economists have theorized about the sources of prosperity, de Soto has made it his life's work to travel the world, visiting cities and shantytowns, talking with black market vendors, and observing people at work in fields and factories. In The Other Path (1986), de Soto documented the crucial importance of property rights to the foundation of prosperous societies. In doing so, he offered the people of Peru an alternative vision to the destructive reality of collectivism. During the early 1990s, de Soto served as principal adviser to the president of Peru, initiating a series of legal and economic reforms that modernized the country's economic system and freed its people from the bureaucratic obstacles that had long crippled their entrepreneurial potential. In his latest book, The Mystery of Capital (2000), de Soto shows that the grubby veneer of the developing world hides unimaginably deep wells of productive capital. To the billions in the world who struggle daily in poverty, de Soto offers the promise of a capitalist future that rewards them for their toil. To the millions of us who live in the relative wealth and comfort of the developed world, de Soto reminds us that we dare not forget our past."

Background
The Goldwater Award was created by the Institute in 1993 to honor an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of human liberty. Hernando de Soto will receive the Ninth Goldwater Award. Officially, the guidelines for the Award are as follows:

"The recipient for this award must be dedicated to the principles espoused by the late Barry Goldwater —limited government, economic freedom and individual responsibility. The recipient should have made a significant contribution to advancing these principles."

Past Recipients
Past recipients include former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher (1994), former President of the United States Ronald Reagan (1995), Nobel Laureate in Economics Milton Friedman (1997), Senator Barry Goldwater himself (1998), and the Nobel Laureate in Economics Friedrich A. Hayek (2001).

* Information and photograph kindly provided by the Goldwater Institute [1].