Institutional Foundations of Impersonal Exchange: Theory and Policy of Contractual Registries

Abstract

This book explains how public registries strengthen property rights and reduce transaction costs, analyzes the main tradeoffs in their organization, and proposes principles for successfully developing registries in countries at different stages of development. The book focuses on land and company registries, exploring the recurrent difficulties they tend to face as well as current issues such as the US mortgage foreclosure crisis, the frenzy for simplifying business formalities, or the dubious efforts made in developing countries towards universal land titling. It also shows how his analytical framework can be fruitfully applied to other registries, such as intellectual property and organized exchanges in financial derivatives.