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.

'A fascinating book that demonstrates how the rights of capital have been entrenched in the international legal system. The Code of Capital opens the way for a thoughtful discussion about the treaties on capital flows and privileges that need to be rewritten. A must-read.' - Thomas Piketty, author of Capital and Ideology

'Nothing less than a crisis theory of law.' - Adam Tooze, New York Review of Books

'Almost anybody who reads the book will benefit; a must-read for corporate lawyers, investment bankers, capital providers.' - Rahul Saikia, Financial Times

'A thought-provoking read, written in language non-lawyers will be able to grasp.' - Business and Management

One of Business Insider's Richard Feloni's best books of 2019 on how we can rethink today's capitalism and improve the economy

One of the Financial Times' Readers' Best Books of 2019

A Project Syndicate Best Read in 2019

One of the Financial Times' Best Books of 2019: Economics

Katharina Pistor is the Edwin B. Parker Professor of Comparative Law and director of the Center on Global Legal Transformation at Columbia Law School. Her books include Law and Capitalism: What Corporate Crises Reveal about Legal Systems and Economic Development around the World. Twitter @KatharinaPistor